SF Chronicle – S.F. robotaxi rides exponentially increased in the city — even after severe crash
See full original article in the SF Chronicle by Ricardo Cano
Autonomous ride-hailing in San Francisco surged dramatically last year after state regulators granted Cruise and Waymo’s unrestricted expansion in the city as more people tried riding in self-driving cars, most of them gravitating toward Waymo taxis.
Waymo accounted for more than 80% of the 191,000 total driverless taxi trips the companies logged between Sept. 1 and Nov. 30, according to data submitted by Cruise and Waymo to the California Public Utilities Commission.
The PUC data compiled by the Chronicle continued to illustrate the rapid expansion of Cruise and Waymo’s driverless taxis in San Francisco, which completed a combined 26,000 driverless trips during the first quarter of 2023.
Waymo led the way, logging almost 1 million driverless ride-hailing miles from September to November. Cruise accounted for 188,000 miles in that period, according to the PUC data.
Waymo led the way, logging almost 1 million driverless ride-hailing miles from September to November. Cruise accounted for 188,000 miles in that period, according to the PUC data.
Those figures remain a fraction of the estimated ride-hailing activity registered by Uber, Lyft and other human-driven taxis in the city. But the robotaxis’ ride-hailing mileage is still exponentially higher than what Cruise and Waymo reported one year prior, in November 2022, when the companies logged 36,000 combined driverless passenger miles.
The disparities in driverless ride-hailing found in the latest tranche of data the companies reported come as little surprise, though the extent of it might. Waymo logged more driverless trips every month since August even as Cruise had a monthslong head start in its ability to charge for autonomous rides in the city.
The PUC regulates driverless ride-hailing in California and gave Cruise and Wamo the green light on Aug. 10 to charge for robtaxi rides at all hours. The victory didn’t last long for Cruise. A week after the PUC vote, another regulator, the Department of Motor Vehicles, ordered the company to cut its San Francisco fleet in half because of a spate of accidents, limiting Cruise’s ability to expand.
The DMV on Oct. 24 suspended Cruise from operating its driverless taxis in the city after one of its robotaxis was involved in a severe Oct. 2 crash. The downtown San Francisco incident happened after a human driver struck a pedestrian, hurling her into the path of an adjacent Cruise vehicle. The PUC and DMV allege Cruise initially withheld footage that showed its robotaxi dragged the woman 20 feet in an attempt to pull over because of faulty software.
That immediate suspension left Cruise’s rival, Waymo, as the only robotaxi company that could charge for driverless taxi rides in San Francisco.
Still, the gap in commercial ride-hailing activity between the two companies became clear as early as September — the month before the Oct. 2 incident that preceded Cruise’s suspension, according to PUC data.
For example, Waymo logged 38,473 paid driverless trips in September, the first full month the companies were allowed to charge for autonomous ride-hailing at all hours. Cruise, meanwhile, reported 10,680 paid rides for that month, a figure that remained mostly stagnant in October.
Those figures represented a significant increase for Waymo, which tallied 12,600 paid robotaxi trips in August. This past quarter’s numbers were almost triple the total number of driverless trips the company logged during the summer, when it wasn’t allowed to charge for autonomous rides.
Cruise’s figures marked a considerable decline in its driverless ride-hailing activity. The company recorded more than 114,000 driverless rides from June to August, most of them unpaid, and about 31,000 rides (almost one-third of them unpaid) between September and November.
Waymo’s robotaxis completed more than 56,000 paid driverless trips both in October and November. The Mountain View-based company, which aims to expand to Los Angeles, as well, transported about 203,500 people during paid driverless rides from September to November — almost six times the number reported by Cruise (34,782).
The most recent driverless ride-hailing activity sharply differed from past trends. Cruise had been logging more than twice the number of driverless trips than Waymo prior to August, when both companies’ driverless taxis were mostly operating unpaid ride-hailing service.
The ride-hailing data also suggests that the severe crash involving a Cruise robotaxi had little impact on Waymo, which reported slight month-to-month increases in paid driverless trips and passenger mileage in November.
Waymo ride-hailing services remain available only to users who have been approved from the company’s wait list. The company says it has “incrementally increased” the number of driverless taxis available for ride-hailing since it got regulatory approval to expand.
The exact number of Waymo robotaxis roaming San Francisco is unknown because the companies don’t have to report the information to state regulators. The company would likely have to add more robotaxis to its fleet in order to manage wait times if demand continues to grow.
“We are steadily working through our waitlist in San Francisco and believe there is still strong demand for the unique service we offer,” Waymo spokesperson Chris Bonelli said in an email. “And when we have capacity to fully open our service — similar to Phoenix — we will be able to welcome additional residents, occasional visitors and tourists.”
It’s unclear for how long Cruise will remain sidelined in California. The San Francisco-based company saw several of its top executives depart, including its founder and CEO, following its California suspension and remains under investigation by state and federal regulators.
Reach Ricardo Cano: ricardo.cano@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @ByRicardoCano
See full original article in the SF Chronicle
