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.
NBC Bay Area reports that numerous crossing guards in San Francisco have reported close calls with Waymo robotaxis. City leaders, including the mayor, vow to hold Waymo accountable.
NY Times reports that Cruise has restarted operations in Dallas, Houston and Phoenix, though with human safety drivers. Article also reports that Cruise has lost $500 million for the first 6 months of 2024.
Washington Post reports on how Tesla claims of 'self-driving' cars is now being called, by some, "fraud". An excellent article that explains the legal jeopardy that Tesla has been placed into by its CEO.
Article from Business Insider on how Tesla skews the data processing for their FSD system such that Elon Musk and "influencers" receive priority. This of course results in Musk and the influencers experiencing a completely skewed reality, which means that their statements on FSD are simply invalid.
Washington Post reports that "cyclists can't decide whether to fear or love self-driving cars" and then reports that most cyclists really don't think they are safe. Peculiar. They should have mentioned that the real problem with robotaxis is that it just means more cars, and all cars are a problem.
From Fox 10 in Phoenix. Not only did the police have to pull over another Waymo for driving dangerously, it was because once again the vehicle crossed the center line and drove into oncoming traffic.
ABC7 reports on how a Tesla on Auto Pilot turned onto railroad tracks of an active train line.
Lidar is essential for a safe robotaxi system since computer vision is completely inadequate for detecting certain objects, such as pedestrians at night, or even large semi-trucks crossing the road. But Elon Musk and Tesla are actively refusing to work towards creating a safe autonomous vehicle system.
Unfortunately SB 915, legislation to allow local regulations for AVs, was pulled by the author due to other legislatures gutting it. The press release by Senator Cortese is provided here so that readers can understand what happened.
AZFamily 5 reports on how a grandmother loaded her grandchild into a Tesla and walked around to the drivers door but was locked out due to battery having died without sending any warning notifications. Such a safety failure could have easily been deadly.
See original article by Keith Bradsher at NY Times Assisted driving systems and robot taxis are becoming more popular with government help, as cities designate large areas for testing on public roads. The world’s largest experiment in driverless cars is underway on the busy streets of Wuhan, a city in…
NY Times reports on how in China there is greater support for autonomous vehicles, but that the government censors news media and social media so that people are not aware of the crashes and deaths.
The Verge reports that Wayside mo has issued a software update after one of their vehicles crashed into a stationary pole. But Waymo never mentions why the vehicle crashed into a large stationary pole, which shouldn't have happened regardless of mapping or configuration issues.
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.
