Waymo's Self-Driving Cars Keep Hitting Things: A Cyclist, a Gate, and a Pickup Truck

The Washington Post reports:

Google's self-driving car company, Waymo, is hitting resistance in its quest to expand 24/7 robotaxi service to other parts of California, including a series of incidents that have fed public officials' safety concerns about the vehicles coming to their cities. Over eight days in February, for example, a Waymo vehicle smashed into a closing gate while exiting the University of Southern California's campus; the next day, another collided with a cyclist in San Francisco. Later that week, a mob of people vandalized and lit one of its cars on fire. Days later, the company announced a voluntary recall of its software for an incident involving a pickup truck in Phoenix. [Though it occurred three months ago, the Post reports that after the initial contact between the vehicles, 'A second Waymo vehicle made contact with the pickup truck a few minutes later.']

This string of events — none of which resulted in serious injuries — comes after Waymo's main competitor, General Motors-owned Cruise, recalled its fleet of driverless cars last year... [Waymo] is now the lone company trying to expand 24/7 robotaxi service around California, despite sharp resistance from local officials. 'Waymo has become the standard-bearer for the entire robotaxi industry for better or for worse,' said David Zipper, a senior fellow at the MIT Mobility Initiative. While Waymo's incidents are 'nowhere near what Cruise is accused of doing, there is a crisis of confidence in autonomous vehicle companies related to safety right now.'

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) delayed deciding whether Waymo could expand its service to include a portion of a major California highway and also Los Angeles and San Mateo counties, pending 'further staff review,' according to the regulator's website. While Waymo said the delay is a part of the commission's 'standard and robust review process,' the postponement comes as officials from other localities fear becoming like San Francisco — where self-driving cars have disrupted emergency scenes, held up traffic and frustrated residents who are learning to share public roads with robot cars... Zipper said it is a notable disparity that 'the companies are saying the technology is supposed to be a godsend for urban life, and it's pretty striking that the leaders of these urban areas really don't want them,' he said.

Waymo offers ride-hailing services in San Francisco and Phoenix — as well as some free rides in Los Angeles, according to the article. It also cites a December report from Waymo estimated that overich 7.1 million miles of testing, there were 17 fewer injuries and 20 fewer police-reported crashes 'compared to if human drivers with the benchmark crash rate would have driven the same distance in the areas we operate.'

Read more of this story at Slashdot.