San Francisco mob sets fire to Waymo vehicle

An angry mob destroyed a Waymo self-driving taxi in San Francisco on Monday night. The incident occurred around 9pm local time when a group of approximately 20 individuals surrounded the stationary Waymo vehicle.

https://twitter.com/SFFDPIO/status/1756581720399520077

While footage of the event has surfaced online, it remains unclear what prompted the mob to destroy the vehicle. Speculation has arisen following a recent incident involving a Waymo vehicle colliding with a...

12 February 2024 | Connected Vehicles

Cruise is being investigated after robotaxi dragged pedestrian

General Motors’ driverless Cruise division is facing investigations by both the Department of Justice (DoJ) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) following an October 2023 incident in which a jaywalking pedestrian was struck by an autonomous Cruise vehicle and then dragged 20 feet, exacerbating her injuries.  

The probes come as Cruise itself released findings yesterday regarding the incident, which also involved another vehicle. The company acknowledged it "failed to...

26 January 2024 | Applications

San Francisco robotaxis get the green light to operate 24/7

Google's Waymo and General Motors' Cruise have both received the green light from California's regulatory body to implement 24/7 fare-based services for fully driverless rides in San Francisco.

The pivotal decision was made by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), which voted 3 to 1 in favour of granting the expansion of driverless services for the two tech giants. The CPUC says it meticulously evaluated the companies' adherence to licensing requisites and considered...

11 August 2023 | Connected Vehicles

Cruise robotaxis now run 24/7 in San Francisco

Cruise has announced that it’s now operating 24/7 in San Francisco, marking a significant milestone in its journey.

However, the wider public is currently only able to use the service in around one-third of the city between 10pm and 5:30am. Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt has promised that this will soon change as Cruise moves closer to launching a fully-fledged robotaxi service open to the public around the clock.

Vogt said the systems that power the robotaxi network in San...

27 April 2023 | Connected Vehicles

Waymo’s vehicles are confused by San Francisco’s fog

The latest challenge that autonomous vehicles are struggling with is driving in fog.

Five of Waymo's fully driverless vehicles had to pull over by the side of a residential street in San Francisco on Tuesday when they encountered the city’s notoriously dense fog.

The incident caused significant traffic issues, as motorists were unable to pass the parked vehicles.

In a blog post a couple of years ago, Waymo highlighted the difficulties that fog...

13 April 2023 | AI

San Francisco officials want the CPUC to slow robotaxi authorisations

San Francisco officials have sent letters to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) expressing their concerns over the pace of robotaxi deployments.

Driverless vehicle giants Cruise and Waymo have significant expansion plans for their respective operations in San Francisco. However, their existing deployments have been causing some problems for the city.

Some of the reported issues have included driverless vehicles stopping in the middle of the road for no...

31 January 2023 | Connected Vehicles

Waymo launches 24/7 autonomous ride-hailing service in San Francisco

Alphabet subsidiary Waymo has launched San Francisco’s first 24/7 fully-autonomous ride-hailing service.

Earlier this month, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) granted Waymo a permit to participate in the state’s pilot initiative to provide “driverless” autonomous vehicle (AV) passenger service to the public.

“We are seeing momentum build in this space and are working to assure the safe expansion of the driverless pilot program,” said CPUC...

21 November 2022 | AI

Cruise offers free robotaxi trips in San Francisco without backup drivers

Self-driving vehicle service Cruise is offering free public robotaxi trips in San Francisco without backup drivers.

The free trips will use Cruise’s fleet of retrofitted Chevrolet Bolt vehicles that includes Poppy and Tostada. These vehicles are ‘Level 4’ meaning they’re fully driverless and don't require a backup driver but still feature a steering wheel, pedals, mirrors and everything required for manual control.

Cruise was granted approval to test its...

2 February 2022 | Connected Vehicles

Waymo will resume self-driving van trials in the Bay Area on June 18th

Waymo has said it will resume trials of self-driving vans in the Bay Area on June 18th.

The company was forced to suspend its autonomous vehicle trials in mid-March following a “shelter-in-place” order issued in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Back in March, we decided to suspend our driving operations in response to COVID-19 to ensure the safety of everyone involved in our services and local communities,” a Waymo spokesperson said in a...

1 June 2020 | AI