Waymo's Application To Expand California Robotaxi Operations Paused By Regulators (techcrunch.com) 15
The California Public Utilities Commission's Consumer Protection and Enforcement Division (CPED) has suspended Waymo's application to expand its robotaxi service in Los Angeles and San Mateo counties, putting "an abrupt halt to the company's aspirations to expand where it can operate -- at least until June 2024," reports TechCrunch. It does not, however, change the autonomous car company's ability to commercially operate its fleet in San Francisco. From the report: The CPED said on its website that the application has been suspended for further staff review. The "suspension" of an advice letter is a procedural part of the CPUC's standard and robust review process, according to Waymo. San Mateo County Board of Supervisors vice president David J. Canepa took a different stance, however.
"Since Waymo has stalled any meaningful discussions on its expansion plans into Silicon Valley, the CPUC has put the brakes on its application to test robotaxi service virtually unfettered both in San Mateo and Los Angeles counties," Canepa said. "This will provide the opportunity to fully engage the autonomous vehicle maker on our very real public safety concerns that have caused all kinds of dangerous situations for firefighters and police in neighboring San Francisco."
Waymo noted that it has reached out to two dozen government and business organizations as part of its outreach effort, including officials in cities throughout San Mateo County such as Burlingame, Daly City and Foster City, the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office and local chambers of commerce. [...] The city of South San Francisco, Los Angeles County Department of Transportation, San Francisco County Transportation Authority, San Mateo County Office of the County Attorney and the San Francisco Taxi Workers Alliance have sent letters opposing the expansion.
"Since Waymo has stalled any meaningful discussions on its expansion plans into Silicon Valley, the CPUC has put the brakes on its application to test robotaxi service virtually unfettered both in San Mateo and Los Angeles counties," Canepa said. "This will provide the opportunity to fully engage the autonomous vehicle maker on our very real public safety concerns that have caused all kinds of dangerous situations for firefighters and police in neighboring San Francisco."
Waymo noted that it has reached out to two dozen government and business organizations as part of its outreach effort, including officials in cities throughout San Mateo County such as Burlingame, Daly City and Foster City, the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office and local chambers of commerce. [...] The city of South San Francisco, Los Angeles County Department of Transportation, San Francisco County Transportation Authority, San Mateo County Office of the County Attorney and the San Francisco Taxi Workers Alliance have sent letters opposing the expansion.
Regulators Doing The Right Thing? (Score:3)
Say it isn't so!
A PAUSE seems like a very reasonble step to take.
After all this driverless machine is operating on public roads around human beings. At least I call them "human beings" but they might have a different view.
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Maybe. But if robo cars are better drivers, any delay kills.
Thanks, lawyers!
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Is there even any compariso data?
Re:Regulators Doing The Right Thing? (Score:5, Informative)
However, the objections in the summary aren't even about injuries or deaths (which is telling in itself), but rather the problems Waymo is causing for other traffic, especially emergency responders. That seems like a hard problem, because emergencies throw normal driving procedures out the window. A guy pointing and shouting at you to 'go over there' is a big departure from how driving is normally done.
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Gotcha [getcruise.com]
That's not to say that Waymo's study isn't more rigorous than
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Do they count deaths caused somewhere else in the city due to their cars blocking ambulances and fire trucks from getting through?
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A guy pointing and shouting at you to 'go over there' is a big departure from how driving is normally done.
The solution is to train the system on lots and lots of simulated and then real emergency situations.
Then, when it detects that there is an emergency (people screaming, sirens, flashing blue lights), it loads the pre-trained network from flash and deals with the problem.
Have special training for corner cases even has a name: Boosting [wikipedia.org]
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Traffic accidents are more common than wars, at least in California.
So, there are plenty of opportunities to validate the simulations with real-world data.
Re: Regulators Doing The Right Thing? (Score:2)
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Have you ever actually ridden in one? I've been using Waymo for a couple years now... I was part of their "trusted tester" program before they opened the app to the rest of the public and started charging. They're definitely better than your *average* Uber or cab driver. And I've not felt unsafe in them, even after they eliminated the safety drivers. In fact, my only real complaint is that they drive somewhat too conservatively; missing openings in traffic a human would use to make the ride quicker or
Re: (Score:1)
amazing incompetence (Score:2)
It's amazing that the regulators have not come up with a way to cite these robots for traffic violations, nor a way for emergency personnel to take control of the vehicle if necessary.