Empty cars everywhere… Google spinoff Waymo and GM’s Cruise were approved to operate paid 24/7 driverless taxi services in San Francisco this week. It’s a big win for autonomous-vehicle operators, which’ve invested billions and spent years developing the tech. Cruise and Waymo have no fleet-size limit, leaving them free to compete directly with cabs and ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft. But the expansion hasn’t been without friction: safety officials and residents heavily criticized driverless cars during a six-hour public hearing.
Road bumps: Critics raised issues like the 200+ times this year when robotaxis have stalled, needing retrieval. And the time an autonomous car stopped near the scene of a mass shooting.
Flat debut: One day after getting approval, 10 SF Cruise vehicles stalled, causing a traffic jam. Meanwhile, “coning” protests (placing a traffic cone on a robotaxi’s hood to disable it) have gone viral.
Fewer drivers, more roads… After years of “any day now” hype, autonomous driving is finally speeding up. Cruise is expanding into its eighth city (LA), while Waymo enters its fourth commercial market (Austin). In SF alone, 40+ companies have permits to test driverless cars. Given the tech expertise needed to leave the driver’s seat empty, some of Silicon Valley’s biggest names are merging into the autonomous lane. Apple’s self-driving wing had about 50 cars testing on public roads last year, while Amazon’s Zoox had 100.
Hitting the gas on a yellow light is risky… Estimates of the robotaxi market’s decade-end value range from $46B to $10T (seriously). But critics say that fast growth could come at the expense of critical safety measures: there’ve been at least 55 incidents of robotaxis interfering with SF Fire Department operations, and the majority have happened since May, when companies began ramping up rides.