Self-driving vehicles in America are at a crossroads
Image: Crunchbase
This week, a California regulatory board will vote on whether Alphabet-owned Waymo and GM-owned Cruise can expand their fleets of driverless taxis in San Francisco and establish competing ride-hailing services, each with hundreds of vehicles operating 24 hours a day.
And while the vote only pertains to one city, it marks the start of what’s shaping up to be a state-by-state Super Smash Bros.-style battle royale over whether to allow self-driving cars and trucks on American roads.
👍 Arguments in favor: Cruise and Waymo say their autonomous taxis are significantly safer than the average human-operated vehicle, citing data from each companies’ first 1 million driverless miles. For context, regular human drivers in America are involved in ~3.5 crashes per 1 million miles, including at least one crash that causes an injury.
- Waymo reported two crashes and 18 other “minor contact events” collectively resulting in zero injuries. And in every vehicle-to-vehicle incident, Waymo says the human driver in the other car was responsible for “one or more road rule violation and/or dangerous behaviors.”
- Cruise says its vehicles recorded 54% fewer collisions overall when benchmarked against human drivers in a comparable driving environment, and zero traffic fatalities.
🙅 Arguments against: Many San Francisco city officials have expressed concerns about the proposed autonomous taxi expansion. They note the number of monthly reported incidents involving the companies’ vehicles increased over 3x between January and April of this year, reaching a frequency “that would preclude any teenager from getting a California Driver’s License.”
- These incidents include unresponsive self-driving taxis blocking traffic or emergency vehicles, intruding into crime scenes or construction zones – and in one instance, even attempting to drive into an active fire (forcing a firefighter to break the car’s window to halt the vehicle).
📸 Big picture: Beyond San Francisco, Cruise and Waymo are currently operating hundreds of self-driving taxis in Phoenix, and deploying dozens more test vehicles to LA, Miami, Dallas, Austin, and Nashville. Both companies plan to eventually scale up ride-hailing operations in all of those areas, as well as in other major US cities with favorable weather conditions.
📊 Flash poll: As it stands today, would you feel comfortable taking a ride in a self-driving car?
See a 360° view of what media pundits are saying →
Sprinkles from the Left
- Some commentators argue that Cruise and Waymo’s robotaxis in their current form are not safe enough yet to be trusted on the streets of San Francisco due to the increased number of involved incidents – each of which requires authorities to contact the companies to move their vehicles.
- Others contend that autonomous vehicles have the potential to make America’s roads a safer place overall, but there will be considerable hurdles with getting the public to start adopting the new technology.
- “Slow the roll of robotaxis. They aren’t safe enough yet to take over California’s streets” –LA Times Editorial Board
- “I took a ride in a self-driving car and I’m still not sure if I want them on the streets” –Emily Hoeven, San Francisco Chronicle
- “Self-driving cars are a thing of the future. But is that future right around the corner?” –Marc Saltzman, USA TODAY
Sprinkles from the Right
- Some commentators argue that autonomous vehicles carry a wide range of potential downsides, and people should be hesitant to allow the technology to completely take over American roads without fully considering the effects of such a move.
- Others contend that self-driving vehicles have made substantial progress in just a few short years, but still face a long road to becoming relevant – and questions also remain whether fully autonomous or a hybrid approach is the best solution.
- “The Case for Resisting Self-Driving Cars” –Jack Butler, National Review
- “The road to fully self-driving car transport may be perilous” –Megan McArdle, WaPo
- “Self-Driving Cars Are Progress at a Price” –Gregg Opelka, WSJ
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