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.
NY Times reports on how Baidu had a major outage in Wuhan, stranding passengers in the middle of busy streets and even causing at least one collision. In fact, robotaxis from China have had a very questionable safety record.
Wired reports that Tesla acknowledges that their "robotaxis" are sometimes actually driven by humans. This is of course not a surprise given the Tesla Optimus robots are known to actually be just teleoperated puppets. Certainly is peculiar that the company is valued at $1.4T based on robotaxis and humanoid robots.
Benzinga reports that the California Public Utilities Commission has declared that Tesla does not have true autonomous capability and therefore does not have an actual robotaxi system. Whoops. You can always count on Elon to not speak the truth.
404 Media reports that a food delivery clanker shattered the glass on a bus shelter and then spread the shards all over the sidewalk. Also note that Chicagoans definitely not into food delivery clankers.
Business Insider provides a truly informative documentary on the current state of robotaxis. Covers everything from cost to safety. But most importantly, it asks if we are even asking the right questions, and whether we should instead be looking at how some cities made their streets much safer ... without any robotaxis at all. A must watch.
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.
