Autonomous Cars

Cruise’s robotaxis are front and center of the industry’s trust issue after losing their California permit following an incident where a pedestrian ended up stuck underneath one of its cars.

After producing hundreds of the self-driving vans already, “we did make the decision with GM to pause production of the Origin,” said Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt in leaked audio obtained by Forbes and later confirmed by GM. The decision comes after Cruise recently halted its robotaxi services nationwide. The company is on a trust-building campaign after California suspended Cruise’s operating license, calling autonomous vehicles a public risk.

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.

During Tesla’s Q3 earnings call, an investor mentions that Mercedes says it’ll accept legal liability for its Level 3 autonomous system, and asks if Tesla will do the same. Musk replies with a laugh: “There’s a lot of people who assume we have legal liability... judging by the lawsuits.”

Houston is the next city in the US to get a robotaxi service, courtesy of Cruise, which just announced the launch today. The driverless vehicles will be available seven days a week from 9PM-6AM in Downtown, Midtown, East Downtown, Montrose, Hyde Park, and River Oaks neighborhoods. Robotaxi companies have been targeting bigger, more populous markets, as the pressure to start bringing in more revenue continues to grow. Waymo just started testing the waters in LA, and now Cruise is going after the fourth biggest city in the US.

This opinion piece in the New York Times argues we’re “driving blind” when it comes to autonomous vehicles, citing recent robotaxi crashes in San Francisco and the growing number of fatal Tesla Autopilot incidents. The writer argues that while the federal government regulates hardware, and the states oversee drivers, there’s no one testing to see whether the software operating these vehicles is up to snuff. And that amounts to “a loophole large enough for Elon Musk, General Motors and Waymo to drive thousands of cars through.”

California has green-lit 24/7 service expansion of the vehicles in San Francisco, enabling Waymo and Cruise the freedom to operate during daytime hours. Robotaxis are the subject of traffic jam chaos, and one was involved in a crash with an emergency vehicle last week. And they’re expanding to more cities.

The autonomous shuttles offer free rides along a fixed, seven-stop route in the artificial island’s center from August 2023 to April 2024 (via AP News).

Prompted by a collision Thursday between one of Cruise’s robotaxis and a fire truck, Cruise has agreed to reduce its fleet after being asked to by the California Department of Motor Vehicles, writes The New York Times.

When two people die in very similar crashes years apart, the reason seems obvious. Autopilot, Tesla’s driver assist system, can’t recognize trucks crossing the road. They knew it couldn’t, and they didn’t fix it. And now we have testimony from their engineers admitting this.

The California Public Utilities Commission will hold a hearing at 11AM PT on whether robotaxi companies like Cruise and Waymo will be allowed to charge for their rides and operate their service 24/7. Some San Francisco officials are urging the panel to vote no, citing blocked roads and traffic caused by robotaxis.

The companies are forming a joint venture that will provide Toyota-branded EVs to the autonomous vehicle company Pony.ai. The Level 4 vehicles can operate without a human at the wheel and will join the PonyPilot+ robotaxi network offered in China.

Teslas, like most cars, aren’t supposed to work without someone in the front seat. But as YouTuber AI Addict proves, all you need is a stuffed animal, or even a dang balloon, to trick the Full Self-Driving system into thinking there’s someone behind the wheel. (Full disclosure: these guys did these tests at the behest of Dan O’Dowd, a rich software developer who’s made it his life’s mission to debunk Elon Musk’s automated driving claims.)