Login
TechCrunch Mobility: The battle over robotaxi rules
Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for the future of transportation and now, more than ever, how AI is playing a part.
Reading view
Waymo says San Francisco service has resumed after one-hour pause
This isn’t the first time power outages have caused issues for Waymo.
San Francisco mayor pushes for tougher rules after the Waymo traffic fiasco
In the wake of a massive hours-long gridlock event, San Francisco mayor Daniel Lurie has told state regulators it's time to put more requirements on robotaxi operators like Waymo.
Uber’s robotaxi lobbying effort puts it on a collision course with Waymo
Washington, D.C. has become a battleground for Uber and Waymo's competing views.
TechCrunch Mobility: A robotaxi ultimatum
Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for the future of transportation and now, more than ever, how AI is playing a part.
Free Waymo rides in California? You can thank a regulatory quirk.
Robotaxi companies have thrived in California, where the good weather, enthusiasm for technology, and sophisticated labor force have supported their growth for nearly two decades. But a delayed decision from a state regulatory agency is now slowing Alphabet’s subsidiary Waymo, the US leader in driverless robotaxi service.
The holdup means that Waymo isn’t yet allowed to expand into parts of Northern and Southern California. And, in an upside for riders, Waymo still isn’t able to charge California passengers for rides in its new vehicle, a pale blue Chinese-made car it’s calling the Ojai, which started picking up riders last month.
If Waymo continues to operate these vehicles in its driverless ride-hail service, they could be gratis until the end of September and perhaps beyond. (The company continues to charge for rides in its Jaguar I-Pace robotaxis, which make up the majority of its fleet.)
© Allen J. Schaben / Contributor
Feds demand autonomous vehicle companies stop interfering with first responders
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said emergency scenes are not "edge cases."
Two teens learn the hard way not to do toy gun drive-bys from a Waymo
Two California teens have learned that Waymo's robotaxis can and will enforce their rider rules on misbehaving passengers. It probably seemed like a marvelous jape—ride around in the back of a robotaxi getting drunk and doing drive-bys, shooting stuff with gel beads. And perhaps it was, until that robotaxi and Waymo worked out what was going on. Waymo then stopped the car and alerted the San Mateo Police, who showed up and detained the troublemakers, according to a post on the department's Facebook page.
"After calling us and stopping the car, we were able to safely remove both subjects and determined they were shooting Orbeez from the car as they sipped on afternoon libations while being chauffeured around town in the driverless vehicle," the police wrote.
This isn't the first instance of a Waymo robotaxi snitching on misbehaving passengers. According to Reddit, last year two men in Los Angeles were reported to the police for drinking inside a robotaxi.
© Aurich Lawson | Getty Images
