Curbed – A Postcard From Driverless San Francisco
Article from Curbed. Interesting because describes what taking a robotaxi is really like, and how it turns out to not be that useful, especially given how slow they can be.
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 MoreCurbed – A Postcard From Driverless San Francisco
SF Standard – Cruise Hired a Lobbyist Close to Newsom. Then a Crash Changed Everything
Article from the SF Standard by Josh Koehn. Covers how not only did Cruise and Waymo report spending $2.3m to lobby state and local politicians to allow them to use our roads as a testing ground, but Cruise did not report hiring Axiom Advisors, close partners with Governor Newsom, until after key CPUC hearing.
The Lever – The Lobbying Surge Behind San Francisco’s Robo-Taxi Mayhem
Driverless taxi companies Cruise and Waymo wined and dined officials and landed a plum regulatory appointment before they scored free rein on San Francisco’s streets. See full original article on The Lever by Freddy Brewster. In the lead-up to California regulators voting earlier this month to allow driverless taxis to…
SF Standard – Here’s How Much Robotaxi Companies Spent to Influence California Regulators
Article from SF Standard by Josh Koehn. Goes in depth about the lobbyists who are used to sway the regulators and the politicians. $2.3 million!
San Francisco seeks reprieve from CPUC decision allowing unfettered autonomous vehicle expansion
San Francisco officials, led by City Attorney David Chiu, have filed a motion to halt the CPUC's decision allowing unchecked expansion of commercial autonomous vehicles (AVs) by Cruise and Waymo. Citing public safety concerns and numerous incidents where AVs interfered with emergency services, the city is seeking a stay while challenging the decision's lack of consideration for safety and environmental impacts in compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act.
SF Chronicle – Robotaxis are good for disabled people, advocates say. But are wheelchair users being thrown under the (autonomous) bus?
Article from SF Chronicle by Soleil Ho. Covers how Cruise and Waymo actively lobbied and funded disability organizations to get support for robotaxis. But it appears this was just a cynical ploy.
Stopping robotaxis with traffic cones
An interview with Safe Street Rebel about halting the expansion of Waymo and Cruise in San Francisco. This article is from Paris Marxs’ blog at https://disconnect.blog, where you can also find many other articles on the perils of technologies like robotaxis, and the technologists who foist them on our society.
ABC 7 News – Journalist documents wild ride inside Waymo self-driving car in SF
ABC 7 reporter goes on a wild ride in a Waymo. It stops at a green light on a busy road. Then gets lost and tries to drop off passenger 5 minutes away from their destination. The subsequent try was no better. The journalist wishes that there was a driver to talk to in order to actually get to where they wanted to go.
TechCrunch – Waymo retires its self-driving Chrysler Pacifica minivan
Useful history on Waymo vehicles
