Are robotaxis the future? Or instead, the past?
Are robotaxis the future? Or instead, the past?
Waymo is fortunate to have a better reputation than the rest, but their incident rate is still not acceptable…
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.
NY Times reports on an additional issue with riding in a Waymo robotaxi: one might be the subject of a great deal of hostility.
CBS Austin reports on how a Waymo vehicle stopped past crossing gates, and was missed by a train by just a few inches.
CBS Austin reports that a Waymo decided to drive in the wrong lane again, against oncoming traffic.
FastCompany looks at a database of problems the San Francisco transit agency has had with Waymos, and it turns out to be far worse than Waymo lets on to.
SF Standard reports that the San Francisco Board of Supervisors grilled Waymo on the epic disaster when 1,500 Waymos got stuck during a power outage. Waymo has still not acknowledged that a large part of the problem was that cellular communications completely went down for swaths of San Francisco once the backup batteries for the cell towers ran out of juice. Waymo's only solution for this problem is not talking about.
We already knew that remote operators were involved in driving Waymo "autonomous" vehicles. But this NTSB report provides a concrete example of the remote operator dangerously providing incorrect information, causing the Waymo robotaxi to pass by a stopped school bus. Credit goes to Phil Koopman for calling out this problem.
SF Standard reports that Waymo is planning on switching to Iioniq 5 cars, but those vehicles have been found to be quite unreliable. Not ideal when you are trying to operate a fleet of them, mostly remotely.
Greetings from KXAN Austin where a shooting resulted in 3 deaths, 14 injuries, and ambulances blocked by a Waymo that was probably being "driven" remotely, possibly all the way from the Philippines. And how did the Waymo manage to turn and block off the entire street?
NY Times reports on how the state of New York is expected to withdraw its proposal for expanding autonomous vehicles outside of New York City. The humans (mostly labor groups and taxi drivers) have spoken!
The Verge reports that Waymo is still trying to hide that remove drivers in the Philippines are actually controlling the vehicles in some situations.
Washington Post Editorial Board publishes absolute nonsense on the safety of autonomous vehicles, in the hopes of minimizing safety regulations. The Washington Post used to be an important newspaper, but clearly no longer.
The Verge reports on Waymo talking around one of their biggest problems: they don't manufacture cars. Therefore they have to adapt their technology to a series of vehicles. And note that the Zeekr is a Chinese import which current has a 100% tariff levied.
11 Alive from Atlanta reports that a Waymo, this time with a passenger, drives into the middle of an active crime scene where to policed officers were just injured in a shooting.
