Starting today, Phoenix residents can use the Uber app to hail a ride in a driverless Waymo vehicle. The two companies — former rivals turned frenemies (?) — first announced the partnership earlier this year. Tellingly, it’s only available in Arizona, and not California, where tensions around robotaxis are starting to get, well, tense.
The California DMV’s suspension of Cruise’s robotaxi permit in San Francisco is now reverberating down in Los Angeles. Los Angeles City Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez is planning to file a motion today that urges state officials to “reign in the expansion of robotaxis” in the city. Waymo is in the process of beta testing a robotaxi service in LA, which is plans on expanding next year.
Soto-Martinez is being joined by the Teamsters union, which has emerged as one of the most prominent critics of driverless cars and trucks in the state.
