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.
TechCrunch reports that another autonomous trucking company, Kodiak Robotics, is taking the financially dubious track of obtaining funding via a SPAC. This means that the company will completely fall apart within 2 years.
Mission Local reports on what an incredibly bad idea it would be for Mayor Lurie to allow Waymo robotaxis onto the downtown Transit Only portion of Market St.
The organizations Kid Safe, SFBC, Transit Riders, and Walk SF denounce San Francisco Mayor Lurie's plans to allow Waymo robotaxis on Market Street while simultaneously cutting transit.
SF Chronicle reports that King Lurie has decreed that public transit on Market Street shall be replaced by Waymo robotaxis.
SF Gate reports that Waymos still are bad drivers and sometimes get stuck. This time they blocked customers from getting their Chick-fil-A.
Reuters reports that when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Now the last of the long-time execs has joined the exodus.
NY Times reports a huge sales slump to 337K vehicles for Q1, exactly inline with the robotaxi.news estimate of 335k from a few days ago. This is a true disaster for Tesla. Yet today their stock rose by over 5% due to it now being without a doubt a pure meme stock.
GM Authority reports that the Cruise saga is not yet over. GM and Cruise are being sued for misrepresenting AV advancements, in particular, having achieved level 4 autonomy.
Seeking Alpha reports on how Wells Fargo warns that their stock could fall by 50% after pathetically low deliveries are announced. Plus they are very skeptical about the June Cybercab rollout.
NY Times reports on how a Xiaomi vehicle in semi-autonomous mode drove into a concrete guardrail at 60mph, killing all three occupants. The vehicle only had camera sensors and not any type of LiDAR, which is obviously needed for autonomous driving.
Predictions are only predictions if they are both explained and recorded. So this is official prediction of Tesla tanking in June 2025.
electrek reports on how the purported Tesla launch of ‘unsupervised full self-driving’ in June is simply yet another empty promise. Tesla doesn't have the technology. And they are hiring teleoperation folks to get their cars out of the inevitable problematic situations they will encounter.
SF Examiner reports that Waymo continues to be incredible when it comes to working with cities and revealing even basic data, like the number of vehicles they operate in a city.
electrek reports on how Tesla has had to remove "Full Self Driving" and "Autopilot" terms from the products it sells in China, given that they are patently not true. Also noteworthy that Chinese human drivers are receiving tickets for bad driving when the use the Tesla driver assist features.
KXAN reports that the Austin Police Department had to move a bunch of Waymo "autonomous" vehicles that couldn't handle the weather and pulled over where they blocked traffic. Not exactly autonomous, are we Waymo??
