California regulators consider robotaxi expansion with limited transparency and many unanswered questions

Friday - July 7 2023, 04:26 UTC - 1 year ago

The Los Angeles Department of Transportation and the city of Santa Monica have filed comments with the commission arguing for incremental robotaxi rollout with higher data transparency, while the industry filed opposing filings. The California Public Utility Commission is set to vote on robotaxi expansion June 29 without considering issues such as traffic flow and interference with emergencyservices. Since Jan. 1, 2023 the San Francisco Fire Department logged at least 39 robotaxi incident reports, including multiple instances of interference with emergency services.

The Los Angeles Department of Transportation and the city of Santa Monica have filed comments with the commission arguing that robotaxi service should be rolled out incrementally as problems are identified and addressed. Both also called for far more data transparency on robotaxi safety issues. The industry countered with filings opposing any kind of incremental rollout.

The June 29 consent agenda package will gather 50 orders and resolutions on a wide variety of issues, to be passed or rejected by a single vote by the California Public Utility Commission’s five commissioners. CPUC commissioner, lawyer John Reynolds,was appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2021. In 2021, John Reynolds served as general counsel for Cruise.

State regulators track robotaxi collisions, but they don’t track data on traffic flow issues, such as street blockages or interference with firetrucks. The San Francisco Fire Department has tracked traffic problems for firetrucks. Since Jan. 1, 2023 the San Francisco Fire Department has logged at least 39 robotaxi incident reports.

According to a letter from SF officials, monthly reported incidents involving Waymo driverless operations have increased six-fold this year, including instances where they interfered with emergency services. According to data provided by the city, reported incidents involving driverless Waymo and Cruise vehicles more than tripled from 24 to 87 between January and April.

In San Francisco, Waymo is now covering the entire peninsula, operating a free, 24/7 robotaxi service. The northeast section of the city, including Fisherman’s Wharf and North Beach, are still only accessible to Waymo’s Trusted Testers, who are employees and guests who have signed up to beta test certain features.

Waymo is asking for its self-driving vehicles to be allowed to operate day or night across nearly the entirety of San Francisco at speeds up to 65 mph. Cruise is seeking many of the same geographic and operational expansions but only at speeds up to 35 mph.

Running through yellow emergency tape and ignoring warning signs to enter a street strewn with storm-damaged electrical wires, then driving past emergency vehicles with some of those wires snarled around rooftop lidar sensors. Twice blocking firehouse driveways, requiring another firehouse to dispatch an ambulance to a medical emergency. Sitting motionless on a one-way street and forcing a firetruck to back up and take another route to a blazing building. Pulling up behind a firetruck that was flashing its emergency lights and parking there, interfering with firefighters unloading ladders. Entering an active fire scene, then parking with one of its tires on top of a fire hose. After a mass shooting June 9 that wounded nine people in the city’s Mission District, a robotaxi blocked a lane in front of emergency responders. Another lane was open, but in a news release, the Fire Department said on a narrower street, the blockage could have been "catastrophic".

The utilities commission is set to vote on robotaxi expansion June 29. The rules for expansion do not consider issues such as traffic flow and interference with emergency services, nor does the commission staff’s proposed decision intend to address them.