Are robotaxis the future? Or instead, the past?
Are robotaxis the future? Or instead, the past?
The news media has expended considerable effort researching and publishing information about the robotaxi business. This channel highlights some of the important articles.
Austin American-Statesman reports that both Waymo and Tesla are all crashy-crashy in Austin. Frankly, it is quite amazing that they claim that autonomous vehicles are safe when they get into so many mishaps.
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.
electrek reports on how Tesla FSD relies on humans taking over when things go wrong, yet this is an impossible task. It takes too long for human drivers to context shift and take over driving. And since Tesla FSD is not full autonomy, the human driver is fully responsible for the inadequacies of the semi-autonomous system.
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.
CBS Austin reports on how a Waymo vehicle stopped past crossing gates, and was missed by a train by just a few inches.
CBS Austin reports that a Waymo decided to drive in the wrong lane again, against oncoming traffic.
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.
The NTSB collision summary is out for the January 23, 2026 incident where a Waymo collided with a child. It is very unfortunate that Waymo continues to try to blame a child for problems with its robotaxis.
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.
SF Standard reports that Waymo is planning on switching to Iioniq 5 cars, but those vehicles have been found to be quite unreliable. Not ideal when you are trying to operate a fleet of them, mostly remotely.
Greetings from KXAN Austin where a shooting resulted in 3 deaths, 14 injuries, and ambulances blocked by a Waymo that was probably being "driven" remotely, possibly all the way from the Philippines. And how did the Waymo manage to turn and block off the entire street?
electrek reports that the head of the Cybercab program has left Tesla. Clearly the head of the program had no faith in the success of the program itself.
