Robotaxis can offer paid rides in San Francisco around the clock after Alphabet’s Waymo and GM’s Cruise got approval from California’s Public Utilities Commission.
Grimes on Living Forever, Dying on Mars, and Giving Elon Musk Ideas for His Best TweetsEarlier this week, Cruise said its cars have experienced 177 incidents between January and the end of June in which cars froze and had to be retrieved by staff, and Waymo said its own vehicles had experienced 58 unexpected stops with passengers aboard during the same period—a total of 235 robotic traffic incidents in six months.
In public comments at the hearing today, and in others submitted in writing ahead of the vote, a number of residents and state and local groups said they believed the robotaxis held great promise for their communities. Some speakers said they believed autonomous vehicle technology would make streets safer, pointing out that robots never get drunk, tired, or distracted. Thirty-nine people died on San Francisco roads last year, the most since 2007.
Other commenters said the new technology would give people with disabilities greater independence in a city where transit and even ride-hailing can be unreliable, discriminatory, and expensive. “Buses tend to be more difficult for our seniors,” says Nestor Fernandez II, the CEO and executive director of local neighborhood nonprofit Telegraph Hill Neighborhood Center, citing mobility issues but also. “Our hope is that [self-driving cars] would be another option for our seniors to get around.
Under previous permits, Cruise and Waymo operated some 550 driverless cars in San Francisco, though figures from the companies indicated they would collectively have only about 400 on the road at any given time. Not all carried passengers. Today's decision by California regulators means the companies will be able to operate an unlimited number of robot cars that charge for rides on San Francisco’s streets.
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