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…
NY Times reports on how China is now delaying their plans for widespread adoption of robotaxis. It turns out that they are no where near safe enough for full autonomy.
SF Standard reports on how the Waymo problem in San Francisco was due to both to traffic signals going out and Waymo's reliance on the cellular system to use actual humans when there are unusual problems. There will be hearings on both the culpability of PG&E and of Waymo.
NY Times reports on how Waymo robotaxis would cause significant problems when the next big earthquake hits San Francisco.
NY Times reports on the widespread Waymo outage in San Francisco during a power failure. The allegedly autonomous Waymos turn out to depend on the cellular system to operate. But the truly scary thing is that Waymo did not even have a contingency plan. They had to be told by the Mayor's Office to suspend service.
Mission Local reports on the disaster that was Waymo during a power outage. Waymos were stuck all over, blocking traffic and emergency access. This was due to the vehicles not actually being truly autonomous, but instead on relying on cellular communication that apparently Waymo didn't realize doesn't work when power goes out for a while.
The Register reports that the California DMV is not at all happy with Tesla's marketing the "Autopilot" system. They have found Tesla to be in violation. If they do not update their marketing materials within 60 days they will be suspended from sales in California for 30 days.
TechCrunch reports on how complaints on Tesla's behaving dangerously just keep on piling up.
TechCrunch reports on how NHTSA is now investigating 19 cases where a Waymo illegally passed a stopped school bus. 19 times!
KQED reports that San Francisco is planning on letting all commercial vehicles on "car-free" Market Street based on completely flawed testing.
CBS Austin reports video evidence of Waymo vehicles illegally passing school buses 19 times. Further evidence that Waymo vehicles simply are not designed to follow traffic safety laws.
While the title is correct, we do need to change course, the opinion piece is just another tech fantasy. The truth is that the data show that the solution for safety is clearly better designed streets and better safety policies. Simply look at Europe to see how safety can be greatly improved through street design, not robotaxis.
NY Times reports on how there are more and more robotaxis, and they take a ride on a Zoox.
SF Chronicle reports on on Supervisor Jackie Fielder of San Francisco is trying to push for state legislation to allow local control of robotaxis. This was motivated by Waymo killing a beloved bodega cat.
TechCrunch covers how Waymo wants to arrest people who vandalize Waymo vehicles. Meanwhile they kill pets with impunity.
The Lever reports that a regulator, who is more interested in promoting rather than regulating AVs, has been appointed as the new head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
