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.
Washington Post reports how robotaxis not having a human driver leads to a large number of scary situations. Apparently their metric of crashes per mile driven is simply not adequate.
TheVerge reports on how the Federal Government is proposing changing standards for autonomous vehicles, but that they expect a great deal of safety related data in return. At the same time, Tesla is trying to avoid having to provide the government with crash data since they have so many crashes.
NBC Bay Area reports on yet another misleading study by Waymo on how their vehicles improve safety, when they simply do not.
Reuters reports on how the Trump transition team is trying to eliminate the requirement for Tesla to provide data on just how dangerous their "self-driving" system actually is.
TechCrunch reports that the Cruise employees didn't realize that there was no way that GM was going to continue to burn more money on the doomed project. The key thing is that Waymo employees currently believe that they will always be supported by the parent company. Well, it just doesn't work that way.
TheVerge provides the most in depth coverage of the fall of Cruise. A robotaxi business is currently too expensive and complicated to succeed with financially. The article also appropriately points out that urban transportation advocates see the only true safety solution is fewer cars, not automated ones.
Fortune reports on how GM pulling the plug on Cruise shows just how hard it is for automakers to succeed with robotaxis. Tesla stockholders should take note.
Business Insider reports on how GM is shutting down the Cruise division. But their main point is that the robotaxi business is simply a bad business financially.
elektrek announces that Tesla is losing yet another critical long-term employee. This time it is the head of Autopilot and FSD HW engineering. Why would the head of AV hardware leave Tesla when they are supposedly lsoon to make billions of dollars off of their robotaxi business???
Wall Street Journal reports that, as predicted, Cruise has crashed. It is being shut down. And GM will focus more on development of advanced driver assistance systems, putting autonomy on the back burner.
Reuters reports that Tesla has come to the realization that FSD won't actually be adequate for robotaxis and that teleoperation will be needed. Tesla also explains that originally the robotaxis would be owned by Tesla, not by individuals as described earlier.
Barrons falsely reports that Tesla robotaxis will be much cheaper because they will have half the parts. But the stock market loves the story!
TechCrunch reports that Waymo is starting to outsource operations of their robotaxis to an African fintech company in order to save on costs.
Jalopnik reports on a Tesla going out of control on the top deck of a parking garage, speeding over speed bumps, hitting multiple cars, and then flying off the end of the building. Has not yet been ascertained whether the Tesla was in a assisted driving mode at the time. But it sure looks suspect. The passengers survived.
NBC Dallas-Fort Worth reports that Aurora has delayed their introduction of robotrucks, and when then do move forward they will only put a paltry 10 semis on the road. This is an incredibly weak start.
