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.
Waymo vehicle shows incredibly poor and dangerous driving as it gets stuck on a light rail track with a train approaching just behind it. The passenger wisely got the heck out of that vehicle. Another unhappy Waymo customer!
David Zipper reports in Bloomberg on how regardless of the debate of whether robotaxis are safer or not, there are definitely many better ways to improve traffic safety. Just look at cities that are already much safer.
NY Times reports on how Waymo continues to flaunt California regulations and allows unattended minors to ride in Waymos.
The Telegraph reports that Waymos and other robotaxis will be coming to England. But also notes that some of their "supervisors" are located all the over in the Philippines. Sure hope nothing goes wrong (as it has many times in San Francisco)!
Waymo finally acknowledges that its vehicles are not autonomous and that they need human help when encountering complicated situations, such as traffic signals being out during a power outage. Yet they continue to mislead the public. The blackout caused the 5G cellular system that Waymo uses to go down, making human help impossible. The vehicles needing human help is an inherent and unfixable problem for the current Waymo driving system.
SF Standard reports on how the Waymo problem in San Francisco was due to both to traffic signals going out and Waymo's reliance on the cellular system to use actual humans when there are unusual problems. There will be hearings on both the culpability of PG&E and of Waymo.
NY Times reports on how Waymo robotaxis would cause significant problems when the next big earthquake hits San Francisco.
NY Times reports on the widespread Waymo outage in San Francisco during a power failure. The allegedly autonomous Waymos turn out to depend on the cellular system to operate. But the truly scary thing is that Waymo did not even have a contingency plan. They had to be told by the Mayor's Office to suspend service.
Mission Local reports on the disaster that was Waymo during a power outage. Waymos were stuck all over, blocking traffic and emergency access. This was due to the vehicles not actually being truly autonomous, but instead on relying on cellular communication that apparently Waymo didn't realize doesn't work when power goes out for a while.
KRON4 reports that Waymo still has not answered the basic question of how did that person get into the Waymo. Also, note that the mother violated the safety rules which specifically disallow minors from riding unaccompanied.
The Register reports that the California DMV is not at all happy with Tesla's marketing the "Autopilot" system. They have found Tesla to be in violation. If they do not update their marketing materials within 60 days they will be suspended from sales in California for 30 days.
San Antonio News reports on a video showing a Waymo blatantly going the wrong way down a one-way frontage road. Better than human drivers???
TechCrunch reports that Tesla has started testing their "robotaxis" without safety drivers, even though they clearly do not yet have the technology to do so safely.
First time Waymo rider gets quite the fright when their Waymo cuts in front of another driver.
SF Chronicle reports that an odd hitch hiker was found in the back of a Waymo. We have questions ere. First, how old was daughter that the ride was being arranged for?? It is not allowed to send a child alone in a Waymo because clearly unexpected things might happen. Second, with all the sensors and supposed technology how did a really odd person sneak into the vehicle?? Third, wouldn't a human driver have prevented this from ever happening??
