Are robotaxis the future? Or instead, the past?
Are robotaxis the future? Or instead, the past?
All the robotaxi companies claim that their safety is much better than obsolete human drivers. But are they really safer given that they seem to crash so often? This clearly needs to be investigated further.
AutoEvolution reports that the much hyped (by Elon) FSD V12.4.1 isn't working that well. Clearly Tesla does not have the technology for real AVs that would be needed for robotaxi service. The whole robotaxi hype is clearly just a way of artificially keeping their stock price high.
Reuters reports that has ruled that the California Department of Motor Vehicles should indeed investigate whether Tesla has overstated its vehicles' self-driving capabilities. It is a separate ruling from the recent May 15th one on whether a class-action lawsuit against Tesla's claims can proceed.
Interesting Engineering reports on how some researchers are proposing adding a fourth light to traffic signals to help facilitate traffic. Note how this idea does not take into account that there are pedestrians out there.
Fortune reports on how difficult the robotaxi business is, and how Waymo has outlasted the other companies. But somehow Fortune is impressed with Waymo serving 50,000 rides/week. At $20/ride this is only about $50 million a year, a pittance compared to the billion dollars+ that they are spending.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) reports that the federal regulation of vehicle automation is currently completely inadequate. Six US senators have called attention to how the NHTSA needs to change their hands off approach to autonomous vehicles.
Article from NY Times explaining how not only do people need to worry about driverless cars and semis, but now driverless trains are killing people.
Reuters reports that the NHTSA has found multiple additional incidents of dangerous driving.
Washington Post reports that all of the major robotaxi companies are now under federal investigation for safety issues.
StreetBlogs reports that autonomous vehicles are not doing very well, and many people are skeptical of them. Now advocates are demanding regulations for safety.
Electrek reports that after years of refusing, Tesla is finally reporting more in depth data for its (non-auto) Autopilot. And the numbers explain why they stopped reporting data completely back in 2022.
NBC Bay Area investigation finds that many San Francisco crossing guards have had scary "close calls" with robotaxis.
Somehow a Waymo was driving down a slow alley in Phoenix yet managed to hit a very large pole with enough speed to crumple the front end. The waiting passengers were not impressed and did not accept the offer of a replacement Waymo, one which got stuck at the crash scene.
From Xitter, a tweet with a dashcam video showing a Tesla on FSD drive directly into a moving train. An excellent reminder that Tesla is not going to be putting out a robotaxi fleet given how weak their technology is.
A Bloomberg journalist tries out Fake Self Driving for a month. Hilarity ensues. The author is not impressed.
A detailed article by Fortune on what has happened to Cruise since their October 2nd crash. Though it appears that Fortune still believes that GM will do what is needed to make Cruise successful, when it is actually quite clear that Cruise is doomed.
