The news media has expended considerable effort researching and publishing information about the robotaxi business. This channel highlights some of the important articles.
Business Insider reports on how Tesla is requiring test drivers to test Full [sic] Self Driving on public roads - and not take over if at all possible when mistakes occur. The result is that Tesla has been endangering the public by running red lights, speeding, and getting far too close to pedestrians and bicyclists.
Jalopnik reports on how a Tesla on FSD hit and killed deer, and then didn't even stop the car. This crash was due to the Tesla relying on only a vision system instead of 3D sensors such as LiDAR or ultrasonic. If FSD cannot detect a deer it certainly won't be able to see pedestrians in similar situations.
NBC4 Washington reports that the Tesla Smart Summon system is dangerous and shoddy. And even though the self driving system has always had problems, Tesla has switched away from using much needed distance sensors.
Waymo has long claimed that their robotaxis are safe and that the more they drive, the safer they will be. But the number of crashes sure has jumped according to the data from the NHTSA.
Waymo is once again being misleading. This time, not only are their vehicles zero emission, but they are also claiming that they encourage public transit use.
Washington Post reports on how the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is now investigating four Tesla crashes where "Full Self Driving" was engaged. All crashes occurred when there were visibility issues. These suggest that Tesla only using computer vision instead of LiDAR is insufficient for autonomous driving. And this is of course extremely pertinent given that Tesla's stock price is now based on robotaxis, which are in turn based on technology which Tesla does not have and is not pursuing.
NBC Bay Area published an important three-part series on how Uber and Lyft have been discriminating against people who use service animals. This is a rare situation where Waymo actually is doing the right thing.
Bloomberg reports that current US law limits number of vehicles without driver controls to 2,500/year. This means that even if Tesla somehow came up with a real "cybercab", they would be limited to producing just a very small number of them, making it economically unviable.
Streetsblog reports on a new paper from researchers at Duke, Stanford, U-C Berkeley and the University of Chicago. The paper describes why electric vehicles are only slightly better than ones with internal combustion engines, and that therefore EV subsidies should be rethought. This is very relevant to robotaxis since the companies falsely claim that they are beneficial to society because they are EVs.
Business Insider reports on how the Tesla robotaxi is still no where close to being viable. They do not have the necessary technology, are not even developing it, will not be able to deal with the many regulations, and will have great deal of trouble catching up with other companies.
