Are robotaxis the future? Or instead, the past?
Are robotaxis the future? Or instead, the past?
Robotaxis are not just limited by weak technology. They unfortunately also don’t make any business sense…
See full original article by Pete Bigelow at Automotive News. Cruise-related headwinds dampened the autonomous outlook in some quarters, but trucks may keep on rolling. LAS VEGAS — Self-driving vehicles and advances in automated-driving technology have been a CES staple since Audi drove an A7 autonomously from San Francisco to…
The captain and the top crew members have already departed. 24% of the crew has walked the plank The ship is listing and taking on serious water. This is not going to end well.
Article from NPR.org by Dara Kerr on what a horrible, and self inflicted year, 2023 was for Cruise. Also covers how the problems of Cruise might also effect Waymo.
Article from TechCrunch by Rita Liao. Losses push China's self-driving upstarts to seek new revenue streams.
Article from the SF Standard by Joshua Bote. Reviews the high and low points of what happened to Cruise in 2023, and speculates on what might happen to them in the future.
In a clear sign that GM and Cruise have given up on trying to succeed in San Francisco, they have filed a lawsuit to attempt to law back taxes paid to the city back to 2016.
Article from Forbes by Brad Templeton. A very in depth review of what happened in 2023 with respect to robotaxis, with a concentration on the problems of Cruise. Includes ideas on what might happen in the future.
Article from SF Examiner by Greg Wong on what a crazy and busy year it was for Cruise and Waymo. A very useful and complete timeline of what happened during 2023, and when.
Article from Barrons on how the self-driving car market was an overhyped bubble. That bubble has now popped, as seen by combined market cap of five self-driving vehicle start-ups dropping by a whopping 95%.
Article from Forbes by Brad Templeton. A discussion with a personal injury lawyer on legal issues associated with the incident where a pedestrian was dragged and injured by a Cruise vehicle.
See original article by Sue Vaughan on 48 Hills. They will further damage public transit—and they’re no help to people with disabilities. On August 7 and August 10, the five members of the California Public Utilities Commission will take up the proposal to permit an unlimited number of autonomous Cruise…
Post by E.W. Niedermeyer, the author of Ludicrous. Makes the key statement: "Like Large Language Models, driving automation is a technology that draws us into a fantasy, thinking a vehicle “can drive itself” after a few minutes of plausible performance. "
Useful history on Waymo vehicles
Ford shut down Argo, their autonomous vehicle division. They took a $2.7B impairment on their Argo stake, resulting in a quarterly loss.
