Self-driving cars will be seen more often on the streets of San Francisco in the future: a Californian authority is enabling two robotaxi companies to expand their operations.
Robotaxi companies Waymo and Cruise are allowed to expand their commercial operations in San Francisco. The Californian authority CPUC allowed them to transport paying passengers throughout the city around the clock without a security driver. The decision opens the door to the introduction of novel robotic taxis without steering wheels and pedals.
Waymo is a sister company of Google, Cruise is owned by car giant General Motors. Both companies have been testing self-driving cars in San Francisco for years. Currently, some of their vehicles are already on the road without a human being at the wheel. In this case, only Cruise was allowed to take money from passengers – and only at night.
Criticism of the Robotaxi operation
Cruise sees San Francisco as the perfect testing ground for training robot car software. Cruise boss Kyle Vogt recently emphasized: “If we can let self-driving cars drive in a city like San Francisco with its fog, hills and traffic – they will work just about anywhere.”
Before the decision was made, numerous residents, the municipal transport company and taxi representatives spoke out against expanding the Robotaxi operation. One of the arguments was that the cars often slowed down traffic and disabled emergency vehicles due to software errors. The CPUC, responsible for utility services, approved the extension of services by a majority of three of the four commissioners present.
Cruise and Waymo currently use electric vehicles converted into self-driving cars, but are preparing robo-taxis without steering wheels and pedals. Zoox, which now belongs to Amazon, also wants to put such vehicles on the road.
Source: Stern
