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Those incidents include multiple types of driving behavior, including unexpected stops, erratic driving, issues with pickup and drop-off, and collisions. If the CPUC vote goes through, each company will be allowed to expand its paid-passenger service to every corner of San Francisco 24/7, similar to Uber and Lyft. Cruise’s autonomous driving system is also currently being investigated by NHTSA.
Are You Ready for More Driverless Taxis? CPUC Votes to Let Cruise, Waymo Expand in SF - KQED
Are You Ready for More Driverless Taxis? CPUC Votes to Let Cruise, Waymo Expand in SF.
Posted: Thu, 10 Aug 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
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"They are still not ready for prime time because of the way they have impacted our operations," San Francisco Fire Department Chief Jeanine Nicholson said during a four-hour hearing held Monday in advance of Thursday's pivotal vote. The vote to expand the use of robotaxis seemed like a certainty in May when the CPUC published a draft resolution, but vocal opposition from San Francisco officials has made for a bumpy ride for both companies since then. At a recent California Public Utilities Commission hearing with San Francisco fire and police officials, a Waymo spokesperson seemed to throw shade at Cruise’s statements about blanketing the city with thousands of robotaxis.
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It currently offers a completely self-driven employee shuttle service in Foster City. Like its competitor Cruise, Waymo has opened up services to Phoenix and laid out plans to make the entire San Francisco peninsula open to its robotaxis. Waymo said Los Angeles will be the newest testing ground for robotaxis. “We want our vehicles to improve road safety and to contribute to the city’s economic recovery and its Vision Zero goal of no street fatalities,” she said. If Waymo and Cruise lose next week, some in the tech community fear they’d leave San Francisco or at least scale back, hurting the city’s place as the center of AI technology.
Here’s what Cruise, Waymo are saying about San Francisco expansion plans
During five-and-half hours of public comments at Thursday’s meeting, many speakers derided the robotaxis as annoying nuisances at best and dangerous menaces at worst. Others vented their frustration about San Francisco being transformed into a “tech playground” and the equivalent of an “ant farm” for haphazard experimentation. During the first four hours of public comments at Thursday's meeting, many speakers derided the robotaxis as annoying nuisances at best and dangerous menaces at worst. Others vented their frustration about San Francisco being transformed into a "tech playground" and the equivalent of an "ant farm" for haphazard experimentation.
Both companies have operations in other cities, including Austin and Phoenix. Russ Mitchell covers the epic transition to electric vehicles and energy storage for the Los Angeles Times, blending technology, policy and consumerism, with a particular focus on California. According to Cruise’s data, from January 1 to July 18, 2023, there were 177 VREs, and of those, 26 occurred when a passenger was in a vehicle.
"AVs are not the solution for safety at all. The fire department hates them. I can't imagine there being 10 times more AVs out there," said opponent Michael Smith. "And so it's really critical that we actually look at real safety and not just claimed safety by having a yellow shirt on." The vote on the expanded service for the two companies was postponed twice this summer. In previous interviews with ABC7 News, Cruise and Waymo have said they don't plan on immediately adding any new vehicles to the network, but will slowly increase their fleets.
Explore: See the 55 reports — so far — of robot cars interfering with SF fire dept.
They would be able to operate similarly to Uber or Lyft — travel anywhere in the city, at any time of day, and charge money for the rides. But Dan Chatman, chair of UC Berkeley’s Department of City and Regional Planning, says the rollout of robotaxis is inevitable — and not just for San Francisco, or California. Now, they prowl the streets of several large cities, including Los Angeles, Phoenix, Austin and Miami. Cruise began offering the public a waitlist for autonomous ride hailing in San Francisco in February of 2022.
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On a recent Friday evening, a driverless car pulled up alongside an outdoor dining shed in the Mission district of San Francisco, put on its hazard lights, and waited. As traffic began to pile up behind the vehicle, a man smoking a cigarette outside a nearby bar rolled his eyes. “The companies have mostly denied all of our data requests around performance,” he said. The mood was polite but charged over six-and-a-half hours of public testimony preceding the votes, as scores of people argued for and against. "We can't wait for more San Franciscans to experience the mobility, safety, sustainability and accessibility benefits of full autonomy for themselves — all at the touch of a button," Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana said in a blog post.
Police could request footage from those cameras to investigate crimes or to violate residents’ privacy, advocates say. Waymo has received some requests for camera footage from law enforcement agencies but says it generally requires a warrant or court order. The decision by state regulators followed months of protest by San Francisco officials, unions and civic groups. Supervisor Aaron Peskin says options include filing for a re-hearing, and engaging further with the DMV, state lawmakers and federal regulators.
Soon, anyone in the city might be able to hail a driverless car with a few taps of a phone. And San Francisco cab and ride-hail drivers will have new, automated competition. The companies have defended themselves, noting that they are in communication with city officials about ways to improve to avoid future incidents. They also note that no one has been seriously hurt or killed by an autonomous vehicle in San Francisco, while many people are killed every year by human-driven ones.
“This is a technology built right here in San Francisco that will change the world, yet some of the most ideologically driven elected officials want to stamp it out. The DMV said another government agency alerted it to the missing footage, prompting it to request the full video from Cruise, which the company provided on October 13. John Reynolds, who came to the CPUC after serving as top lawyer at Cruise, said safety is the DMV‘s concern.
Sure, people grow rankled when they’re made to sit in traffic because a Ghost Car can’t figure out what to do. But, by and large, San Franciscans are adept at growing inured to bizarre and unfortunate situations. So city residents may yet have a Bastille Day-like reaction to increasing numbers of autonomous vehicles coursing through the city.
