CBS Austin – Waymo driverless cars stop between railroad and crossing gates
CBS Austin reports on how a Waymo vehicle stopped past crossing gates, and was missed by a train by just a few inches.
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 MoreCBS Austin – Waymo driverless cars stop between railroad and crossing gates
CBS Austin – Video captures Waymo driving in wrong lane near MLK and I-35
CBS Austin reports that a Waymo decided to drive in the wrong lane again, against oncoming traffic.
FastCompany – Uncovered records reveal the hidden costs of Waymo robotaxis on San Francisco streets
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 – Supervisors grill Waymo about 1,500 stalled cars during December blackout
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.
NTSB report indicates Waymo remote support provided incorrect, unsafe, and illegal driving instructions when a stopped school bus encountered
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 – Robot turtles: Waymo’s next-gen cars could be buggy Hyundai EVs
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.
KXAN Austin – Waymo seen blocking first responders during West Sixth shooting
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 – New York to Back Away From Robotaxi Pilot Programs Upstate
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 – Waymo denies using remote drivers after Senate testimony went viral
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 – The long view of self-driving cars
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 – Waymo’s next-gen robotaxi is ready for passengers — and also ‘high-volume production’
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 – Waymo drives into crime scene after two Atlanta officers injured in shooting
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.
Waymo = more work for humans
Waymo was stuck until an actual human could fully shut the door of the vehicle. Given that Waymo support can be all the way in the Philippines, they had to resort to getting a DoorDasher to do it.
Waymo Reveals Remote Workers in Philippines Help Guide Its Driverless Cars
Newsweek reports that Waymo has finally publicly acknowledged that 1) their vehicles are not truly autonomous and need human help in driving in certain situations; and 2) this human driving help can be located many thousands of miles away, in the Philippines! No wonder Waymos run over kids and animals.
Waymo Hits a Rough Patch in Washington, DC
Wired reports that Washington DC politicians have seen how things have gone elsewhere and want some good answers about safety before allowing Waymo to operate in the city.
