Are robotaxis the future? Or instead, the past?
Are robotaxis the future? Or instead, the past?
Cars, being fast moving and heavy, are quite dangerous. They should be well regulated for safety. But it turns out regulations can be bought and paid for by lobbying money…
NBC Bay Area reports on how rideshare drivers filed a formal complaint with the CPUC alleging that Waymo "has been knowingly violating the conditions of its state permit by transporting unaccompanied minors." This is a known and ongoing problem that Waymo has acknowledged occurs.
Bloomberg reports that with autonomous vehicles we should expect a significant increase in traffic, making it yet another tragedy of the commons.
NY Times reports on an additional issue with riding in a Waymo robotaxi: one might be the subject of a great deal of hostility.
NY Times reports on how automous trucks are coming to certain highways (Texas) soon. But no one knows if they will cause serious safety problems due to phantom braking.
FastCompany looks at a database of problems the San Francisco transit agency has had with Waymos, and it turns out to be far worse than Waymo lets on to.
BBC reports on how and why the San Francisco group Safe Street Rebel is disabling Waymo vehicles.
SF Standard reports that the San Francisco Board of Supervisors grilled Waymo on the epic disaster when 1,500 Waymos got stuck during a power outage. Waymo has still not acknowledged that a large part of the problem was that cellular communications completely went down for swaths of San Francisco once the backup batteries for the cell towers ran out of juice. Waymo's only solution for this problem is not talking about.
We already knew that remote operators were involved in driving Waymo "autonomous" vehicles. But this NTSB report provides a concrete example of the remote operator dangerously providing incorrect information, causing the Waymo robotaxi to pass by a stopped school bus. Credit goes to Phil Koopman for calling out this problem.
NY Times reports on how the state of New York is expected to withdraw its proposal for expanding autonomous vehicles outside of New York City. The humans (mostly labor groups and taxi drivers) have spoken!
The Verge reports that Waymo is still trying to hide that remove drivers in the Philippines are actually controlling the vehicles in some situations.
electrek reports that Tesla has dodged a 30-day suspension in California by finally changing their false marketing campaigns. Tesla is completely dropping "AutoPilot" and will only refer to FSD through the amazing contradiction of "Full Self Driving (supervised)"
Washington Post Editorial Board publishes absolute nonsense on the safety of autonomous vehicles, in the hopes of minimizing safety regulations. The Washington Post used to be an important newspaper, but clearly no longer.
Wired reports that Washington DC politicians have seen how things have gone elsewhere and want some good answers about safety before allowing Waymo to operate in the city.
KTLA reports that the California Teamsters union is pushing to get Waymo robotaxis off the streets due to them recently hitting and injuring a child and also going passed stopped school buses illegally.
TechCrunch reports that Waymo is under yet another investigation for violating traffic safety laws and passing by stopped school buses, some with children crossing the street. This investigation is by the National Transportation Safety Board. They do not actually regulate the Waymo robotaxis, but they are experts in conducting safety investigations.
