Waymo robotaxis spark controversy with new L.A. fleet
Waymo released a new fleet of driverless vehicles in L.A. on March 14, with some hailing the robotaxi service as revolutionary and others wary of dangers.
Automating tasks has revolutionized many industries, from grocery stores to banking, but citizens in Los Angeles are questioning whether it’s worth the risks to automate cars. Waymo, owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet, is launching 50 autonomous vehicles in L.A. after having tested the robotaxis in various neighborhoods for more than a year.
Drivers and property owners already face higher premiums in California compared to other states, according to Bankrate. The rise of robotaxis in San Francisco and L.A. could further complicate insurance options and take jobs away from thousands of taxi, rideshare and truck drivers. Some citizens and government officials plan to regulate and restrict the spread of robotaxis, while others celebrate the advanced technology.
Dangers of driverless cars
Robotaxis will start roving the roadways in L.A. in the coming weeks as Waymo rolls out its latest fleet, though they will not roam the freeways just yet. Drivers, passengers, cyclists, pedestrians and policymakers, along with developers and regulators, will need to adjust as safety issues arise.
Critics wonder about the safety of these vehicles, ranging from fender-benders to serious crashes and casualties. Some skeptics have gone so far as to put obstacles in the way or block off areas with cones to stall the robotaxis. While the concerns in L.A. are hypothetical, cities where Waymo and other companies already operate offer real-life examples of safety concerns.
- In February, a Waymo autonomous vehicle in L.A. hit a cyclist when it failed to notice the bicycle behind a large trick at a four-way stop. The cyclist experienced minor injuries, but a small crowd of protestors set an empty Waymo robotaxi ablaze a few days later.
- In Phoenix, a Waymo robotaxi hit the same pickup truck twice as it was towed because the technology failed to predict the towed vehicle’s future motion accurately. (Waymo voluntarily recalled the software after this incident.)
- Passengers in a Waymo driverless car at the University of Southern California campus were in an ironic accident when an automated gate closed on the automated vehicle, causing minor damage and illustrating the issues of what could happen when autonomous technologies don’t play nice with one another.
- A Waymo competitor called Cruise, made by General Motors, dragged a person down a San Francisco street in 2023, after which Cruise was suspended from U.S. operations by the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).
Another concern is passenger safety in dangerous L.A. areas. A Los Angeles Times journalist and photographer took a ride in a Waymo driverless car on March 11, and when they neared their designated drop-off, they heard teens loudly telling police about a man with a gun. The microphones in the Waymo car were set to mute, making it impossible for the journalist and photographer to tell the technology to leave the neighborhood quickly. Their only recourse was a customer service button. While the situation was resolved when the man calmly approached the police, it demonstrates the drawbacks of driverless vehicles in an emergency.
Waymo is not the only robotaxi company on L.A. streets. As of February 2, 38 companies had permits from the DMV to test machine-operated vehicles with a backup driver, six had permits for driverless testing, and three robotaxi manufacturers were allowed to implement autonomous vehicles.
Potential life-saving technology
Proponents say robotaxis are safer than human-driven vehicles because the technology operates more efficiently and does not get tired, distracted or drunk. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 31% of car accident fatalities involve a drunk driver, killing an average of 10,850 people annually between 2012 and 2021, or one person every 39 minutes.
An analysis of accidents involving autonomous vehicles in California’s database revealed only 102 crashes, with more than 6 million miles driven without drivers, according to Bloomberg. These collisions were mostly caused by other drivers and occurred at low speeds. Waymo vehicles have logged over 2 million miles in San Francisco, with just four major crashes reported, lower than the national average among human drivers. However, these numbers may not include all incidents because of loose regulations, an issue local leaders and policymakers plan to rectify with several bills aimed at tightening restrictions and increasing mandates for reporting accidents.
During their test drive, the Los Angeles Times journalist and photographer encountered a hostile human driver who tested the limits of the Waymo vehicle by swerving into its lane and braking hard in front of it. The robotaxi detected the danger and course-corrected to prevent a collision, pointing out another perk: autonomous vehicles don’t get road rage.
Robotaxi riders become repeat customers
March 14 marked the first day people in Los Angeles could hail a driverless vehicle, with Waymo One offering travel over 63 square miles. Despite public concerns and protests, Waymo has a waitlist of 50,000 people who want to try out the machine-operated vehicles. The company plans to offer free rides for several weeks for those on the list before transitioning to paid fares, like Lyft and Uber. Those who have had the opportunity tend to come back for another ride.
Director of Product Management at Waymo, David Margine, told the Los Angeles Times, “They love it and what our users are saying is that they can’t wait for it to scale more. They want to use Waymo for every one of the miles they’re driving.”
There’s a dichotomy in L.A. between those who support robotaxis and those opposed, with some feeling passionately that autonomous vehicles can increase safety in cities and others saying just because we can doesn’t mean we should.
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