Driverless taxis finally approved in California: how they work and why not everyone likes them

California regulators voted Aug. 10 to allow self-driving taxi automakers Waymo and Cruise in San Francisco to offer paid pickup services XNUMX/XNUMX. This is a major win for the industry and could pave the way for wider adoption of the technology. The edition told in more detail The Washington Post.

Photo: IStock

Self-driving cars have become commonplace on the winding, hilly and often foggy streets of San Francisco. The August 10 vote lifted most of the restrictions on operating and charging for rides, essentially creating more services like Uber or Lyft, only without drivers.

This is a turning point for the autonomous transportation industry, expanding on one of the largest test cases for the world, in which many companies assume that drivers are not needed at all.

For years, companies from Amazon to Google have been experimenting with self-driving vehicles, which could prove incredibly disruptive to the labor economy if ever implemented en masse.

In California alone, more than 40 companies — from young start-ups to tech giants — have permits to test their vehicles in San Francisco, according to the California Department of Motor Vehicles. Companies collectively drive millions of miles on public roads every year — along with hundreds of mostly minor accidents, according to data analysis by The Washington Post.

On the subject: Homeowners in California will receive $40 if they agree to build a mini-house in their backyard

“California often serves as the canary in the coal mine for the country and the developed world,” said David Zipper, visiting fellow at the Taubman Center for State and Local Government at the Harvard Kennedy School. “We're talking about monumental impacts on how our streets operate, on emissions, on equity. The potential consequences simply cannot be overstated.”

The California Public Utilities Commission approved permits for Waymo and Cruise on Aug. 10 despite opposition from local leaders and many San Francisco residents who claim self-driving vehicles have caused havoc in the city, from traffic jams to disruptions. The 3-1 vote came after a seven-hour meeting in San Francisco in which hundreds of people spoke both in support and against.

“I believe in the potential of this technology to improve road safety,” said Commissioner John Reynolds, who is Cruise's former managing advisor. “Today is the first of many steps to bring transportation services (autonomous vehicles) to Californians and create a successful and transparent model for other states.”

Just the beginning

Aaron Peskin, president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and a frequent critic of self-driving cars, said he, Mayor London Breed and representatives from the city's transportation agencies planned to meet after the vote to "discuss next steps." It is "probable" that the city will file for a second hearing, he said, which will be a precursor to litigation against the commission.

“This will create a problem that San Francisco, cities and states across the country will struggle with for a long time to come,” he said. “So this is the beginning, not the end.”

Public testing data in California shows a sharp increase in recent years, with 2020 vehicles tested in California over 551 million miles in 1,8. By 2022, that number has risen to 1051 vehicles with over 4,7 million miles.

Google subsidiaries Waymo and Cruise are by far the largest testing companies in the state, with hundreds of vehicles on San Francisco roads at any given time. But there are other big names in the race: Apple, which has largely kept quiet about its self-driving cars, internally called Project Titan, has conducted about 50 vehicle tests on public roads, according to 2022 data. Amazon Zoox has about 100 vehicles. The rest is a hodgepodge of mostly startups.

"We do not know"

Despite the buzz in the industry, many experts warn that wider adoption is likely still a long way off. Companies like Uber and Tesla have already predicted that self-driving cars will be widespread by the mid-2020s, but the technology hasn't worked. And while more than 40 companies have licenses to test their technology in California, many of them are still required to have at least one person supervising driving. Some companies don't seem to be actively testing the technology at all.

However, California state representative Laura Friedman, who chairs the state's transportation committee, noted that regulators are trying to figure out how to control this booming industry. In her view, the August 10 vote should be a wake-up call that the state and federal governments need to act faster.

“California is known for being a leader and an innovator, and everyone wants to see that continue,” she said. “At the same time, it is very difficult for regulators to even understand where to start regulating these innovations. Is this related to safety performance? Is this software related? We do not know".

As part of California operating conditions, companies are required to report certain information, such as mileage and accidents, to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the California Department of Motor Vehicles, and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). But critics say the data is unreliable and incomplete because companies are not required to report a range of other incidents that affect the public, such as when a car enters a bike or bus lane or stops abruptly and disrupts traffic.

There have been at least 2019 collisions with fully autonomous vehicles in California since 236, most of them relatively minor. This does not include the many other examples of problems that cars experienced when they were running autonomously or after the autonomous car was handed over to a human driver. The vast majority of collision reports come from Waymo and Cruise.

In statements, both Waymo and Cruise backed up their safety data, saying their technology will eventually lead to safer streets.

Just months after Chinese startup Pony.ai received permission to test its self-driving cars on California roads in 2021, one of its vehicles flipped over a center divider in Fremont and damaged a road sign. Regulators later withdrew his permits. Today, according to the California DMV, a company is allowed to test if a person is present to take over when something goes wrong. The company had 2022 vehicles in California in 41, according to publicly available data.

That same year, an Apple car crashed into a curb near the Cupertino campus at about 13 miles (21 km) per hour. No one was hurt, but the car's wheel shifted. On two separate occasions in May and June of this year, Amazon Zoox was involved in two minor accidents in San Francisco that injured car drivers.

strong pressure

Philip Koopman, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University who has spent decades researching self-driving car safety, said self-driving car companies are under intense pressure to turn a profit and — in some cases — prove to shareholders that the business is viable. He worries about whether this rapid development comes at the expense of public safety.

“Ultimately this industry will be based on trust,” he said. “These car companies are using public resources to obtain free testing platforms.”

Because autonomous vehicles are state-regulated in California, local leaders have little to say about how and where these vehicles operate in their cities.

In Los Angeles, Jarvis Murray, the county's transportation administrator, said it was "impossible" to allow the new mobility service to expand without requiring companies to report more data and also giving cities more power to influence what happens on their public roads.

“As a city agency tasked with protecting the safety of all road users, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation believes there is not enough data, research, or focus on how the industry will impact city safety or how self-driving car passenger service will impact non-passengers.” Murray emphasized.

Problems

However, some officials report that the technology causes minimal problems.

Mountain View Mayor Alison Hicks said she was not overly concerned about the cars being tested in her city. She suggested this is likely because the roads in Mountain View are generally calm and wide, and many of the testing companies still have safety drivers available to take over if needed.

What worries her the most is the huge impact that cars can have on society as a whole, from job-related issues to climate and public transport implications. These are serious questions, she says, that leaders like her have yet to sort out.

You may be interested in: top New York news, stories of our immigrants and helpful tips about life in the Big Apple - read it all on ForumDaily New York

“If artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles enter our lives at the same time, what will happen to the workforce? she asked. — When new technologies are introduced, security is not the only problem. A set of problems awaits everyone.”

City of San Francisco v.

But in San Francisco, city officials say they're sick of being the industry's guinea pig.

In an attempt to stop the vote on August 10, they wrote letters and spoke at hearings to draw attention to a string of incidents that have taken place in recent months: one of the cars stopped near the scene of a mass shooting, the second got tangled in warning tape and broken wires after the storm, the third blocked the departure of a fire engine from the station for a few minutes.

“I know that this is how technology develops, this is how the industry develops, and that’s okay,” admitted San Francisco Fire Chief Janine Nicholson. “But don’t force it on us.”

There was, among other things, a more organic protest movement emanating from the residents. In videos that have gone viral on Twitter, a group of people have found that placing traffic cones on the noses of vehicles disables them and causes them to stall.

Their goal is to show how easy it is to confuse the technology, and to put pressure on state regulators to stop the proliferation of these cars on the streets of San Francisco.

Following the vote, Waymo said it was "grateful for the vote of confidence" from California regulators. Kyle Vogt, CEO of Cruise, said the vote was a "huge milestone" for the autonomous vehicle industry.

“But more importantly, it sends a message to the entire country that California values ​​progress over our tragic status quo,” he said. “We remain committed to working closely with regulators to achieve this important goal.”

But for Koopman, the Carnegie Mellon professor, the Aug. 10 decision was a discouraging sign of what the industry is up to.

“The regulators are still allowing these guys to do whatever they want,” he concluded. “This yes vote means that if you create chaos on the streets of San Francisco, there will be no real consequences.”

Read also on ForumDaily:

Rich, middle class or poor: how to understand if you have a high income in the US or not

Five features that cause culture shock after moving to the USA: personal experience

How to book a hotel with a discount using a VPN: tips and hacks

Why you can get dropped off a cruise ship

300 + simple idioms that will take your English to a new level

Top 10 profitable business ideas from ChatGPT: you can start without starting capital

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.