US wants to stop expansion of Waymo and Cruise’s robot taxi services for safety reasons
In the letter sent to the two companies by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC); He stated that robot taxis are blocking traffic, hindering 911 emergency responders, and therefore expanding this service is unreasonable.
The US city of San Francisco is asked to stop the expansion of Waymo and Cruise ‘s robot taxi services for security reasons. According to NBC’s report , in the letter sent to the two companies by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC); He stated that robot taxis are blocking traffic, hindering 911 emergency responders, and therefore expanding this service is unreasonable.
Speaking on behalf of Cruise, General Motors’ robot taxi service, Aaron Mclear said that the company’s safety records are public, noting that there has been no life-threatening accident so far. Waymo spokeswoman Katherine Barna is more positive, saying it’s a standard part of the editing process.
Competing with Waymo, Cruise came up with the news that the robot taxi crashed in June of last year. While the vehicle was damaged, the passengers were slightly injured. Cruise has decided to recall its autonomous vehicles.
On the one hand, General Motors-backed Cruise and Alphabet’s Waymo are known as companies that have obtained permission for autonomous taxi service. While Cruise provides this service for money, Waymo, which received a robot taxi service permit in August 2021, does not yet charge a fee to users. Cruise aims to provide its robotaxis service 24/7 in San Francisco.
Last July, it was announced that Cruise’s income-expenditure balance had deteriorated . The company’s expenses reached $550 million this year, from $332 million in the first quarter of last year. It was stated that the most important thing affecting this situation was the 40% decrease in profits of the umbrella company General Motors due to the shortage of semiconductors and the problems the company had in its supply chain. Another reason was said to be launching the robotaxis service in San Francisco.
The company opened its robotaxis service to everyone in San Francisco last February. A public waiting list was created via Cruise’s website to take advantage of the service, which was initially provided free of charge. In June, it was announced that Cruise had received permission from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to charge fees for fully driverless cruises.
Waymo was also on the agenda in December of 2021 with the news that it partnered with Chinese automaker Geely. The goal is to produce fully electric autonomous vehicles. On the one hand, it was announced that it will integrate the autonomous driving technology Waymo Driver into Geely’s electric car brand Zeekr. It is said that the vehicle will be offered to the US market in the coming years. Waymo has had many collaborations from Jaguar to Lyft before. It had previously made such a partnership agreement with Stellantis.
