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.
electrek reports that Tesla Board members have recently sold tens of millions of dollars of TSLA stock, indicating that they don't have a huge amount of faith in the future of the company.
The Register reports on key remarks from Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Dara states that robotaxis are inherently expensive and there is not a path forward for successfully commercializing them.
elektrek reports that the head of FSD at Tesla has stated that based on this data FSD still needs a 1,400x further improvement to enable unsupervised self-driving.
ABC7 reports on Waymo's driving through a sinkhole at full speed, even though the intersection was closed. Video of course is worth 1,000 words.
Carscoop reports on how Washington State is considering requiring speed governors for those who received a suspended license. This is being proposed due to 70% of drivers with a suspended license continuing to drive.
Reuters reports that GM has finished taking full control and all stock of Cruise. As part of the process, 1,000 Cruise employees were laid off in the past.
TechCrunch reports on how CEO and Chair of GM Mary Barra made the best financial decision in shutting down Cruise. This will allow them to, unlike Tesla, maintain profitability in 2025.
Forbes reports that Automatic Emergency Braking has been shown to be effective, yet the mandate for it might be killed by the Trump administration.
San Francisco Examiner reports on how Waymo more than double the times in 2024 where it had paid lobbyists meet with city government officials. Biggest effort is trying to get permission to serve San Francisco Airport, which would be quite lucative for Waymo.
San Francisco Chronicle reports on how robotaxis are taking up valuable property that was was intended for housing.
San Francisco Chronicle reports on how a person and a dog were killed and multiple cars were destroyed including a Waymo. This happened even though robotaxis are widely available in San Francisco. This dramatically shows that robotaxis are not the answer for safety. Instead, better street design is.
Mission Local reports on yet another crash due to Tesla "automatic" driving system. The idea that Tesla could create a working robotaxi system based on this technology is ludicrous.
SF Examiner reports that the state court has rejected a lawsuit from December 2023 by the City of San Francisco. The lawsuit was attempting to overturn the California PUC's decision from October of 2023 to allow Waymo (and Cruise) to provide citywide robotaxi service.
Reuters reports on how NHTSA closes its probe into Cruise with respect to pedestrian safety. The probe was closed simply because Cruise is no longer viable.
Bloomberg publishes one of the best written articles on the hype of the robotaxi business, and its inevitable fall. It shows how all of the robotaxi companies (including Waymo, but especially Tesla) have been dependent on hype to make the false claim that robotaxis have a near-term financially robust future. Yet they are still shockingly dependent on support by a large number of actual humans. And now, not only do robotaxis appear to be post peak bubble, generative AI companies will surely be following the same trajectory.
