Safety

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.

Scientific American – Self-Driving Cars Have New Rules in the U.S. Here’s Why That Matters

Scientific American reports that the DoT has changed AV rules for Level 2 vehicles (Tesla FSD, but not Waymo) so that fewer safety incidents need to be reported. Three reporting regulations were also eased: whether the car had been driven in conditions in which it was designed to operate; a plain-language description of the circumstances of the crash; and the version of automated self-driving software that was in use.

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Houston Chron – Passengers say they were trapped inside driverless vehicle in Austin

Houston Chron reports on how a group of passengers were trapped when their Waymo had a nervous fit and stopped on a high speed road and wouldn't let them out. Finally, when they explained that they were streaming on Tik-tok the remote human supervisor let them out.

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electrek – Tesla Autopilot drives into Wile E Coyote fake road wall in camera vs lidar test

electrek reports on a truly wild YouTube video by Mark Roper showing that without LiDAR that the Tesla's completely miss detecting objects in the middle of the road. And please, a moment of silence for the multiple mannequins that were completely demolished by the Tesla.

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