Robotaxis Stirring Up Controversy in San Francisco

Waymo, the robotaxi company, was acknowledged by the emcee as one of the sponsors before Patti Smith’s performance in San Francisco this month.

The audience booed, which reflects the growing hostility in the city towards one of the most watched fields of technology.

There was a recent incident where a fleet of driverless vehicles froze and blocked traffic during a concert on Friday night in North Beach. Days later, the autonomous car got stuck in wet cement at a construction site, and then the robot collided with a fire truck responding to an emergency call. Weeks earlier, pet lovers were killed when a vehicle struck and killed a small dog.

The accidents add to traffic and safety concerns over driverless vehicles roaming city streets surrounded by sensors and cameras, collecting data and promising a world with less human interaction. Robotax’s backlash is intensifying as self-driving vehicles begin to gain real traction in San Francisco after years of development.

A California regulator this month approved the expansion of robo-taxi services in the city, allowing Alphabet Inc’s Waymo and General Motors Co.’s Cruise LLC to start charging for rides when streets are busiest. But they are now also fighting unions, city public transit and City Attorney David Chiu, who petitioned the state to suspend the expanded ticket permits.

If Chiu wins, it would be a setback for companies trying to cash in on multibillion-dollar investments in self-driving cars. It could also signal to other companies developing technology that the birthplace of autonomy is an increasingly difficult place for it to grow.

This puts California in a precarious position. High taxes and regulations have already sent some banking and technology companies east to places like Texas. Autonomous technology companies are also branching out as Cruise and Waymo expand and test their fleets in Sunbelt states with more permissive regulations and business-friendly governments. On Tuesday, Cruise announced expansion plans in Raleigh, North Carolina.

“What’s not getting harder in California?” said Christopher West, founder of L5AutoUSA, which promotes autonomous vehicles. “This will speed up the natural progression to other cities and states.”

Cruise and Waymo are the only companies in California allowed to offer paid robot taxi services around the clock. The approval came Aug. 10 from the California Public Utilities Commission after Cruise worked for nine years to obtain 10 permits. Other states have been more lenient. The cruise got a permit in Arizona in a month and Texas can offer them in days. In Florida, Georgia and North Carolina, the company said it doesn’t even require an autonomous vehicle license.

Waymo has about 250 vehicles on city roads, while Cruise had 400. After recent social media incidents, the California Department of Motor Vehicles ordered Cruise to cut its active fleet in half — a move supported by the Teamsters. Union Local 250, which represents Bay Area public sector drivers. Cruise can now only drive 50 driverless cars during the day and 150 at night.

The demand for drivers already exceeds the supply of rental cars in the city. Both Cruise and Waymo say they have waiting lists to use their services. And in terms of safety, neither company has reported a fatal crash in their cars, according to data collected by them and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

San Francisco Fire Chief Jeanine Nicholson has been one of the most outspoken critics of driverless vehicles — especially with Cruise — and how they could hinder the work of emergency workers. With its famous hills, fog, and narrow streets, San Francisco is a challenging city for fire engines. In an emergency, response times – seconds and minutes – really matter, especially when it comes to saving lives.

“Every time something happens with a cruise vehicle, they come out with their PR people and take zero responsibility,” Nicholson said by phone. “We need to come to the table and admit that there are challenges and problems and work with us to solve them.”

According to the spokesperson, Cruise has invited Nicholson to talks several times in the past months, but to no avail. The company also said it has reached out to San Francisco Fire Department management about 30 times over the past four months to continue the dialogue. The department says it requires case review meetings and wants its operational staff to meet with engineers.

In an emailed statement, Waymo said it is committed to strengthening road safety and building community trust.

“We have great respect for our first responders and value our continued relationship with them,” the company said.

In a filing with the city attorney, Chiu said the fire department has reported about 60 incidents of driverless cars interfering with its work since April 2022. He gave examples of Waymo and Cruise cars that caused problems, including an incident on Aug. 5 when a Waymo car drove into an active fire scene that blocked firefighters as they tried to put out a burning car.

Not only is the city worried about safety, but it’s also losing transit passengers and ticket revenue to driverless cars. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency has resisted granting permits to competitors such as Cruise and Waymo, accusing Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. of increasing traffic congestion and pollution.

Some groups see the benefits of driverless cars, especially for people with disabilities and workers who need additional transportation options. The Service Employees International Union, the National Federation of the Blind and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 6 are among the organizations that have supported the expansion of autonomous vehicles.

The tensions surrounding driverless taxis are part of a wider conflict over the future of autonomous transport. The state Assembly has passed a Teamsters-backed bill that would ban trucks weighing more than 10,000 pounds from operating without a human driver. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration opposes the bill. He wants to keep driverless car technology in San Francisco and prevent other states from luring companies away with less stringent regulations.

“There are cities around the country that are excited to embrace technology and what it means for their economy,” said Grayson Brulte, a government affairs consultant. “Arizona, Florida and Texas are beneficiaries in the same way they benefit from economic change.”