Forbes reports on how using a Waymo is significantly slower and more expensive than using an Uber or Lyft. The only reason to take one is for the novelty of a Disneyland like ride.
Business Insider reports on how the Tesla robotaxi is still no where close to being viable. They do not have the necessary technology, are not even developing it, will not be able to deal with the many regulations, and will have great deal of trouble catching up with other companies.
Elon Musk gives a lame presentation about robotaxis and Tesla stock drops by a whopping $88.5B. Ouch! It is clear that Tesla will not be producing a robotaxi system, a lower-cost car, nor useful robots in the foreseeable future.
NPR does some excellent reporting before the Tesla "robotaxi reveal" event on October 10th. Key point is that Musk has consistently promised robotaxis next year, for years!
An old article from the Financial Times on the difficulties encountered when rolling out autonomous vehicles. Since this article is quite relevant to the upcoming October 10th Tesla robotaxi fiasco, it is worth reading again today.
David Zipper reports in Fast Company on how the automobile industry managed to prevent this dire needed technology from being required. Identical speed assist systems are already required in Europe on new cars, even ones manufactured in the US. The automobile companies already have to provide this!
Washington Post reports on how the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has fined Cruise $1.5 million for withholding key information from regulators.
SF Chronicle reports that Newsom puts the interest of big corporate donors above safety. He vetoed bills that would have required human operators on large trucks. He also vetoed simple yet effective reporting requirements so that the public would actually be able to know how safe autonomous are (what are they hiding??). And to make things even worse, he signed a bill that exempts robotaxi companies from receiving tickets when their vehicles do something dangerous.
SF Chronicle reports that Cruise is gearing up for a return to the Bay Area. Note that they are not actually returning, but just "gearing up" to do so. If Cruise considers this feeble attempt newsworthy then they are indeed in deep trouble.
404 Media reports on how one of their delivery robots caused a pedestrian to be knocked down and injured. The company offered Promo Codes to make it all better. Meanwhile, they are pursuing felony charger against a couple of drunk students who temporarily snatched one of their robots.
Reuters reports that Waymo is looking at yet another vehicle to use, given that its current Jaguar vehicles are being discontinued. But the possible use of the Hyundai Ionic 5 vehicle appears to be very uncertain.
