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.
SF Standard reports that robotaxis, such as Waymos, can now be ticketed in California for their surprisingly numerous traffic violations. Rbbotaxis must also do a better job in not interfering with first responders. Plus, robotaxi companies will finally have to share more information about problems with the DMV.
Streetsblog makes the critical point that when iti comes to safety, Waymo has been trying to get everyone to focus on the wrong issue: safety per passenger mile driven. The real question is whether robotaxis have improved safety in general. And it turns out that with a huge number of Waymos in San Francisco safety has actually become a bit worse. Meanswhile in Helsinki and Oslo, where there are exactly zero robotaxis, they didn't have a single fatality last year. If people our actually interested in safety, as Waymo claims, then they should be promoting incredibly safe public transportation, not robotaxis.
Business Insider reports that a Tesla FSD fanboy tried to take a robotaxi but of course it took a few hours since Tesla only has a handful of them actually running in Dallas, and only for publicity. And then the Tesla took to freeway for a wild ride ooand tried to pull over while cars zoomed by.
NYC StreetsBlog talks with the experts behind the recent The Future of Transportation seminar. Key point is whether we are currently even asking the right questions about robotaxi safety. After all, Oslo and Helsinki both had zero fatalities last year and they managed to do so without a single robotaxi.
SF Chronicle publishes a marketing piece for Waymo as an op-ed. William Riggs, the author, is paid by Waymo and other robotaxi companies to do their bidding. Not stating that William Riggs is funded by robotaxi companies is journalistic malpractice by the newspaper.
A More Perfect Union created an excellent short video on the ramifications on workers if robotaxis are widely adopted. The situation is grim.
TechCrunch reports that an AVRide autonomous vehicle drove over and killed a mother duck - and Austinites are rightfully outraged.
The City reports that Waymo's permits to test some of their robotaxis in New York City has ended. And their permission to run vehicles in the state of New York has reached a dead end. NYC is simply not read for robotaxis, given they have far more cars there than is useful. It appears Waymo never expected to hit such a speed bump in their deployment.
NY Times reports on how Baidu had a major outage in Wuhan, stranding passengers in the middle of busy streets and even causing at least one collision. In fact, robotaxis from China have had a very questionable safety record.
Wired reports that Tesla acknowledges that their "robotaxis" are sometimes actually driven by humans. This is of course not a surprise given the Tesla Optimus robots are known to actually be just teleoperated puppets. Certainly is peculiar that the company is valued at $1.4T based on robotaxis and humanoid robots.
Benzinga reports that the California Public Utilities Commission has declared that Tesla does not have true autonomous capability and therefore does not have an actual robotaxi system. Whoops. You can always count on Elon to not speak the truth.
404 Media reports that a food delivery clanker shattered the glass on a bus shelter and then spread the shards all over the sidewalk. Also note that Chicagoans definitely not into food delivery clankers.
Business Insider provides a truly informative documentary on the current state of robotaxis. Covers everything from cost to safety. But most importantly, it asks if we are even asking the right questions, and whether we should instead be looking at how some cities made their streets much safer ... without any robotaxis at all. A must watch.
Austin American-Statesman reports that both Waymo and Tesla are all crashy-crashy in Austin. Frankly, it is quite amazing that they claim that autonomous vehicles are safe when they get into so many mishaps.
NBC Bay Area reports on how rideshare drivers filed a formal complaint with the CPUC alleging that Waymo "has been knowingly violating the conditions of its state permit by transporting unaccompanied minors." This is a known and ongoing problem that Waymo has acknowledged occurs.
