California regulators to decide the future of Cruise and Waymo

Table Of Content

• San Francisco is getting back to in-person work. Just ask these companies
• We've heard about self-driving taxis forever, but they're just starting to become a reality
• Autonomous vehicles
• Waymo and Cruise comprised the bulk of the autonomous miles driven in the state
• California regulators to decide the future of Cruise and Waymo
• Cars, Apps, Hardware and Games

Cruise has declined to provide similar information, though since most of their operations are in San Francisco, many of them have been reported to the California DMV. Cruise and Waymo both offer limited paid services in San Francisco — Cruise charges for driverless rides at night, and Waymo charges for its robotaxi service throughout the city at any time of day, but with a human safety operator present. The permit extension allows the companies to expand their services significantly and with no limit on the number of robotaxis they can put on the roads. We’ve seen many stories of these vehicles sometimes being honked at, or even needing rescue by a physical driver, and thus causing lane blockages. These incidents are annoying, but traffic blockage is also done very frequently by human drivers. It makes sense to tolerate it while developing these technologies as long as people are not being hurt — and these statistics are what can demonstrate where people are getting hurt.

San Francisco is getting back to in-person work. Just ask these companies

It is not entirely clear from the crash descriptions if the Waymo driver could have gone above and beyond to prevent the crash that wasn’t its fault. Waymo has in the past touted that their Waymo driver tries to do this and has succeeded many times. One of the promises of good robocars is that not only will they less frequently be the cause of crashes, but they will do extra to prevent crashes that are caused by others.

We've heard about self-driving taxis forever, but they're just starting to become a reality

Running the largest driverless taxi service could give Waymo access to more real-world driving data and operational experience than any other company has, which could allow it to further improve its software and maintain its lead. Waymo’s recent wins are reminiscent of its erstwhile competitor Cruise’s increased activity last year. By August 2023, Cruise had announced initial data collection in Atlanta, alongside Seattle, Washington, D.C., Las Vegas and other cities.

Autonomous vehicles

Waymo is part of Alphabet and has been semi-independent since 2016. But for nearly a decade prior, it was known as the Google Car project and widely seen as the leader in the autonomous-mobility race. It's never been entire clear how much money Alphabet is spending on Waymo, but around $1 billion a year seems to be the price to play in the space.

Self-driving car startup Cruise ran into trouble after pedestrian crash - NPR

Self-driving car startup Cruise ran into trouble after pedestrian crash.

Posted: Sat, 30 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]

The Standard’s ride with Cruise involved actually going in the opposite direction for a spell. Instead of arriving at the Safeway, the Cruise app directed us to a pickup spot a couple blocks away on 19th Avenue. It pulled over on the busy street, leading to a few honks and dirty looks from frustrated drivers as we got situated in the vehicle. It’s one thing for a robotaxi to get through an empty street; it’s another to ask it to navigate construction, pedestrians, bicyclists and Muni trains.

This week, both Waymo and Cruise submitted their latest quarterly trip data to the California Public Utilities Commission, and taken together, they show steady progress in the number of miles and passengers served. But despite mounting challenges, San Francisco’s robotaxis are rolling along. Waymo took The Standard on what appeared to be the most efficient driving route through congested roads such as 19th Avenue and Fulton Street along Golden Gate Park.

California regulators to decide the future of Cruise and Waymo

The company recorded a net loss of $9.3 million in Q2 2023, compared to $320.3 million in the same period of 2022. Bird has just –$1.8 million in free cash flow, and its total operating expenses in Q2 were $36.1 million. But unlike with other Big New Tech innovations I've seen in the past — anyone still have a 3D TV in their living room? I think the people behind the tech will figure out its possibilities, its limitations, and the places it does and doesn't make sense. Cruise’s main rival in the robotaxi space, Waymo, didn’t want to comment on the latest CPUC data, but there was still a lot of parse through.

It's easy to bash tech, but I've started taking robotaxis — and they're awesome

Waymo vehicles had two collisions, one of which resulted in an injury. Opponents to the expansion are urging caution and incremental growth. They’re also calling for more transparent data sharing from the AV companies. Today, AV companies are only required to report collisions and not the many incidents of bricking. I mean, this is not a question you're asking an app or a web page, which is giving you an answer. This is a multi-thousand pound vehicle that's moving through the physical world – yes, it's an application of AI but a very different kind of application of AI.

Cars, Apps, Hardware and Games

Cruise is waiting for CPUC to approve its request to expand operation to the entire city of San Francisco. The self-driving technology industry is in a strange state right now. A number of companies have been pouring millions of dollars into self-driving technology for years, and many of them have prototype self-driving vehicles that seem to work. “We’re laser focused on scaling our fully autonomous Waymo One ride-hailing service in the cities where we operate, as we continue safely and responsibly advancing our autonomous technology through road trips to various cities around the U.S.,” said Karp.

Various China-based tech startups are also testing self-driving cars on California roads, drawing scrutiny from lawmakers. Developing, testing and deploying AV tech isn’t cheap, and the only way to reach positive unit economics is to scale. Waymo has already had to pull back on operations this year after Alphabet issued a slew of layoffs in the first quarter.

The agency’s primary role is to promote the public interest by ensuring safe, reliable and affordable utility services. As long as Cruise and Waymo’s services meet those requirements, the CPUC doesn’t have the authority to limit them. The disengagement reports are widely disparaged as being, at best, meaningless and, at worse, misleading.

Cruise had also begun testing its robotaxis in Austin, Houston, Dallas and Miami and operating a limited robotaxi service in Phoenix. The crashes include any incident in which an autonomous vehicle comes into contact with an object or a person, be it another vehicle, a biker, scooter, pedestrian, road barriers or debris. The collisions may have occurred when the vehicle was either in autonomous (driverless) or manual mode (meaning there was a human operator behind the wheel). In many cases, it is the passengers or test drivers riding in the driverless vehicles who sustain injuries. Waymo studies say 55% of crashes are due to human drivers hitting their stationary vehicles. In 2022, both companies began offering driverless taxi services to the public through a limited-access program that required users to have an invite-only access code.