Robotaxis Introduced To Los Angeles Market Despite Public Safety Issues

Waymo, the autonomous driving car company backed by Google, introduced robotaxis to the Los Angeles market, unveiling their new fleet in Santa Monica on Wednesday. The event was heavily protested by groups citing dozens of safety concerns.

For several years, California has been a battle ground for self-driving cars and robotaxi services. Robotaxi rollouts in San Francisco by Waymo and General Motors’ Cruise have faced the most challenges. While the California Public Utilities Commission slowly expanded the limits of the robotaxis in the city following introduction in 2020, reports of blocked traffic, blocked emergency workers, blocked mass transit, and other similar issues became commonplace in the city. The San Francisco Police Department, San Francisco Fire Department and other emergency service agencies addressed just how much these companies should expand by, given the many kinks to be worked out.

In August, CPUC voted 3-1 to expand robotaxi services in San Francisco by being able to offer paid rides at any time during the day throughout the city, and not be constrained by prior geographic limits, designated operating hours, and paid ride limits. The bulk of the meeting prior to the vote was filled with local residents, city workers, and city officials voicing opposition to the plan. Some within the SFPD and SFFD pointed to the dozens of incidents in the last six months where rescue operations were impeded by self-driving cars. Officials stressed that the incidents, which included driverless cars not moving when told to by first responders on scene, needed to be solved first before more expansion.

However, the rapid expansion led to even more incidents – 10 Cruise robotaxis stalled and caused a major backup. Another taxi careened into a construction site and got stuck in wet concrete. A Cruise vehicle even caused a passenger injury when it crashed into a firetruck. These, as well as dozens of other incidents reported in the months before the CPUC vote, robotaxis were reduced in number there in August, with Cruise alone reducing the number of robotaxis there by 50%.

In Sacramento, Assembly Bill 316, which would have prohibited the operation of an autonomous vehicle with a gross vehicle weight of 10,000 pounds or more on public roads for testing purposes, transporting goods, or transporting passengers without a human safety operator physically present in the autonomous vehicle at the time of operation, was being challenged. For months, Newsom advisors, the AV vehicle industry, and Silicon Valley tech supporters were at odds with labor unions, Teamsters, the majority of Democratic and Republican lawmakers, and vehicle safety groups. Supporters of AB 316 challenged the overall safety of having driverless trucks on the road as well as how the bill could potentially erase tens of thousands of jobs from the state. Detractors, meanwhile, said that the bill would chase out all AV companies in California, would hurt the state economically, and would further harm California’s already shaky tech industry.

While those supportive of the bill managed to get it passed in both houses, Governor Newsom nevertheless vetoed the bill last month, citing it as “unnecessary” and that tech jobs and companies would be at risk if he approved, siding with Silicon Valley over the rest of California.

Expansion and protests

This month, the new battleground for autonomous vehicles and robotaxis became Los Angeles, where Waymo is expected to begin operations in Santa Monica this month, and will expand to Los Angeles next month by adding Century City, West Hollywood, Mid-City, Koreatown and downtown. At Wednesday’s Waymo One Tour opening on Wednesday, many riders got their first experience in the self-driving cars. Some said they supported the expansion so that, in the future, they could have a safe way of traveling without needing a driver and that autonomous cars were the future of driving.

However, a a large number of protestors were protesting against the service expansion. Led by the Teamsters and other union and community groups, they said they were opposed to the expansion because of safety concerns and the impact of untested autonomous vehicles on public streets. In particular, they noted the major issues that robotaxis have had in San Francisco, as well as in other cities such as Phoenix.

“We cannot allow the unchecked deployment of untested technology on our roads,” said Chris Griswold, President of Teamsters Joint Council 42. “Our priority is safety and the protection of jobs. We urge all local elected leaders in LA. County to hold companies like Waymo accountable by ensuring that this technology is thoroughly tested and regulated before more damage is done to our communities, as we have seen in other regions of the country.”

However, despite the massive protests, led by chants of “Hell No Waymo,” the rollout proved successful on Wednesday, with expansion into LA likely to come next month barring major accidents from flaring up.

“They are getting their way in more and more cities for this kind of rapid expansion,” said Sebastian Jordan, a mass transit advisor who has worked with multiple agencies in California in the past. “Normally it would be much slower, but several companies are competing to leave their footprint in new areas. They don’t want another Uber vs. Lyft situation where too many of the companies hurt their own business.”

“Cars will likely become more and more driverless in the future, but right now, there are still too many kinks to work out. We want them to succeed, but they aren’t doing it in a safe way. San Francisco had to reduce the number there because of so many accidents and incidents involving them, and who knows what this truck one will do. Coming to a more car-centric place like LA, well, let’s see what kind of ruckus they will bring. LA may think twice soon if there are enough incidents.”

Robotaxi rollouts are currently expected to continue into next month in Los Angeles.