Safety

All the robotaxi companies claim that their safety is much better than obsolete human drivers. But are they really safer given that they seem to crash so often? This clearly needs to be investigated further.

Safety, Tesla

Tesla very confused about usefulness of Lidar

Michael Smith
06/21/24

Lidar is essential for a safe robotaxi system since computer vision is completely inadequate for detecting certain objects, such as pedestrians at night, or even large semi-trucks crossing the road. But Elon Musk and Tesla are actively refusing to work towards creating a safe autonomous vehicle system.

Lobbying, Safety, Waymo

Senator Cortese statement on the ‘Gutting’ of Key Vehicle Safety Legislation: SB 915

Michael Smith
06/21/24

Unfortunately SB 915, legislation to allow local regulations for AVs, was pulled by the author due to other legislatures gutting it. The press release by Senator Cortese is provided here so that readers can understand what happened.

News, Safety, Tesla

AZFamily 5 – Toddler trapped in car when Tesla battery dies in Scottsdale

News Republisher
06/19/24
Rev 06/21/24

AZFamily 5 reports on how a grandmother loaded her grandchild into a Tesla and walked around to the drivers door but was locked out due to battery having died without sending any warning notifications. Such a safety failure could have easily been deadly.

$$$, News, Safety

NY Times – China Is Testing More Driverless Cars Than Any Other Country

News Republisher
06/13/24

See original article by Keith Bradsher at NY Times Assisted driving systems and robot taxis are becoming more popular with government help, as cities designate large areas for testing on public roads. The world’s largest experiment in driverless cars is underway on the busy streets of Wuhan, a city in…

News, Safety

NY Times – How Safe Are Driverless Cars in China? I Rode in Some to See.

News Republisher
06/13/24

NY Times reports on how in China there is greater support for autonomous vehicles, but that the government censors news media and social media so that people are not aware of the crashes and deaths.

News, Safety, Waymo

TheVerge – Waymo issues software and mapping recall after robotaxi crashes into a telephone pole

News Republisher
06/12/24

The Verge reports that Wayside mo has issued a software update after one of their vehicles crashed into a stationary pole. But Waymo never mentions why the vehicle crashed into a large stationary pole, which shouldn't have happened regardless of mapping or configuration issues.

News, Safety, Tesla, Untruths

AutoEvolution – Tesla FSD V12.4.1 Doesn’t Live up to the Hype, Still Praised for Removing the Steering Nag

News Republisher
06/10/24

AutoEvolution reports that the much hyped (by Elon) FSD V12.4.1 isn't working that well. Clearly Tesla does not have the technology for real AVs that would be needed for robotaxi service. The whole robotaxi hype is clearly just a way of artificially keeping their stock price high.

$$$, News, Safety, Tesla, Untruths

Reuters – Tesla must face California’s false-marketing claims concerning Autopilot

News Republisher
06/10/24
Rev 06/11/24

Reuters reports that has ruled that the California Department of Motor Vehicles should indeed investigate whether Tesla has overstated its vehicles' self-driving capabilities. It is a separate ruling from the recent May 15th one on whether a class-action lawsuit against Tesla's claims can proceed.

News, Safety, Tech

Interesting Engineering – Driverless cars to evolve traffic lights, white signal could be added

News Republisher
06/7/24
Rev 06/13/24

Interesting Engineering reports on how some researchers are proposing adding a fourth light to traffic signals to help facilitate traffic. Note how this idea does not take into account that there are pedestrians out there.

$$$, News, Safety

Fortune – How Waymo outlasted the competition and made robo-taxis a real business

News Republisher
05/29/24

Fortune reports on how difficult the robotaxi business is, and how Waymo has outlasted the other companies. But somehow Fortune is impressed with Waymo serving 50,000 rides/week. At $20/ride this is only about $50 million a year, a pittance compared to the billion dollars+ that they are spending.

News, Safety

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) – On vehicle automation, federal regulators have some catching up to do

News Republisher
05/29/24
Rev 06/4/24

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) reports that the federal regulation of vehicle automation is currently completely inadequate. Six US senators have called attention to how the NHTSA needs to change their hands off approach to autonomous vehicles.

News, Safety

NY Times – A 100-Ton Locomotive With No One in the Cab

News Republisher
05/27/24

Article from NY Times explaining how not only do people need to worry about driverless cars and semis, but now driverless trains are killing people.

News, Safety, Waymo

Reuters – US safety probe into Waymo self-driving vehicles finds more incidents

News Republisher
05/24/24
Rev 05/27/24

Reuters reports that the NHTSA has found multiple additional incidents of dangerous driving.

Cruise, News, Safety, Waymo

Washington Post – Major robotaxi firms face federal safety investigations after crashes

News Republisher
05/24/24
Rev 05/27/24

Washington Post reports that all of the major robotaxi companies are now under federal investigation for safety issues.

Lobbying, News, Safety

StreetsBlog – No Driver, Mo’ Problems: Advocates Demand AV Regulations

News Republisher
05/23/24
Rev 05/29/24

StreetBlogs reports that autonomous vehicles are not doing very well, and many people are skeptical of them. Now advocates are demanding regulations for safety.