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.
Waymo has long claimed that their robotaxis are safe and that the more they drive, the safer they will be. But the number of crashes sure has jumped according to the data from the NHTSA.
Waymo is once again being misleading. This time, not only are their vehicles zero emission, but they are also claiming that they encourage public transit use.
SF Examiner reports on how Waymo is using a charity as a cynical marketing ploy. They are using Waymo vehicles to deliver food for a charity. Of course to deliver food you need a human driver. If Waymo really wants to make a charitable contribution, they should simply donate money directly to the organization.
SF Chronicle reports on how a problem with autonomous vehicles is that passengers are trapped when they get harassed. Certainly expect more of this to happen.
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.
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.
SF Examiner reports on the new Waymo "safety" dashboard, which is basically just company propaganda. If Waymo was actually interested safety then they would pivot to providing cost effective driver assist technology. And they would instead alternative forms of transit, and of course, better road design.
NY Times reports on the myth of "driverless" robotaxis. It turns out that all of the robotaxi companies have large and expensive remote operation centers, where actual humans help drive the vehicles for the inevitable situations where automation simply does not work.
NY Times asks the truly pertinent question: is Waymo a viable business that will continue? While most articles dwell on safety issues, the NY Times digs into how Waymo might not continue once it realizes it is in a hopeless taxi business where they have to front all the costs.
