NY Times – Blind Waymo Users Revel in the Joy of Riding Alone
NY Times writes an unfortunate article that perpetuates the Waymo marketing "crip-washing" that robotaxis are important for people who are visually impaired.
Robotaxi.news
Are robotaxis the future? Or instead, the past?
Robotaxi.news
Are robotaxis the future? Or instead, the past?
Waymo
Waymo is fortunate to have a better reputation than the rest, but their incident rate is still not acceptable…
Read MoreNY Times – Blind Waymo Users Revel in the Joy of Riding Alone
NY Times – Waymo Suspends Service in Six Cities After Cars Drove Into Flooded Roads
NY Times reports on how Waymo robotaxis do really dumb things when encountering flooded streets. They drive in and any passengers are then stuck!
SF Standard – Waymo suspends all freeway rides over safety issues
SF Standard reports that once again Waymo offers service and then has to rescind it because it wasn't at all safe. This time it turns out that Waymos have been suspended from all freeways and from any flooded roadways. Sure would have been nice if they knew of these problems before inflicting them onto the public.
SF Chronicle – An S.F. doctor sued Waymo for allegedly flagging him as a terrorist. Here’s why he dropped the case
SF Chronicle reports on some serious problems with Waymo customer service.
San Francisco Chronicle – New poll shows what San Francisco residents really think about Waymo cars
SF Chronicle conducted a poll and found that only 42% consider the robotaxis to be a "good thing". Meanwhile, Brad Templeton does a really weird and inappropriate comparison to acceptance of elevators.
Express News – Waymo recalls robotaxis after vehicle swept away in San Antonio flood
The San Antonio Express News reports that Waymo vehicles were programmed to drive onto flooded roads. This poor decision caused one of the Waymo vehicles to wash downstream. Now Waymo is updating the software on all their 3,800 vehicles to avoid this really stupid idea.
Wired – Waymo Is Trying to Crack Down on Solo Kids in Driverless Cars
Wired reports that Waymo is finally trying to address the problem of violating the law by providing service to unaccomanied minors. Though they should have dealt with this months ago when they first clearly knew about this problem.
SF Gate – Illegal cars on Market Street surge after Mayor Lurie welcomes Waymo
SF Gate reports on how Mayor Lurie's bending of the laws and allowing Waymo vehicles on car-free Market Street has completely backfired. A year later Waymo is not providing service on Market Street because there are no adequate locations to drop off or pick up passengers. Instead, Market Street is now plagued by car drivers who wrongly think that all cars are now allowed on the "car-free" portion.
NBC Bay Area – San Jose passenger claims a Waymo drove off with his luggage at the airport
NBC Bay Area reports that a passenger took a Waymo robotaxi to the San Jose airport but then absconded with his luggage. Waymo then made it quite difficult to get the luggage back, even though it was completely their fault.
Wired – Emergency First Responders Say Waymos Are Getting Worse
Wired reports that not all do Waymos interfere with first responders, but it continues to get worse.
SF Standard – Cops can ticket driverless cars now
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 NYC – Waymo Is Not In The ‘Vision Zero’ Toolbox: Data
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 – Tesla Robotaxis rolled out in Dallas. This guy had a wild highway ride.
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 – ‘A Solution, But To What Problem?’ Experts Say AVs Are The Elephant In The Room, But There’s Still Time To Figure Out Their Role
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 Opinion – San Francisco is obsessed with the safest drivers — and ignoring the ones killing people
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.
