The driver in a Chevy Suburban seemed intent on testing a Waymo robotic car on the streets of downtown Los Angeles this week.
While playing chicken against the wheeled robot in Silicon Valley, he darted sharply into the next lane toward Waymo. The driverless white Jaguar swerved to avoid the larger car crossing the line and colliding with it.
The human driver sped in front of the robot taxi and suddenly braked in front of it. The machine slowed just in time to avoid a collision, shifted into the next lane and the Chevy drove off, ending a brief but troubling interaction between a Los Angeles Times reporter and photographer riding in a Waymo.
Los Angeles, buckle up.
Robotaxis will go live in Los Angeles over the next two weeks, as regulators, developers, drivers, passengers and policymakers grapple with safety concerns and all the other scenarios that could happen when machines take over the wheel. Barrier abnormalities. Sex in the backseat. Serious accidents. Hostility. Awkward landing places. And yes, skeptics who want to test the technology by putting obstacles in the way.
On Thursday, Waymo One, as the service is known, will begin offering rides across a 63-square-mile area from downtown Los Angeles to Santa Monica. Waymo, which is owned by Alphabet, Google's parent company, has already been testing in Los Angeles-area neighborhoods for more than a year. It launched a months-long “tour” in October, but until now, the service has been limited to small corners of the city and to invitees from a waiting list.
Waymo said the fleet will be fewer than 50 cars in Los Angeles. But the debut of fare fees in Los Angeles marks another major milestone for an industry once imagined in science fiction. The fleet will descend on a city known for its car culture and the identity people create around it. But there are no expressways right now, Waymo officials say; Cars will stick to surface streets.
The move comes less than a month after the California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates the service, paved the way for self-driving vehicles in Los Angeles and cities across the Bay Area.
Waymo One will begin offering driverless taxi service starting Thursday across Los Angeles.
(Waymo)
“This will revolutionize transportation, and people will have access to a wider range of comfort levels,” said David Margins, Waymo's director of product management. “There are always people who are afraid or nervous and take longer to accept new technology.”
But those who have used it tend to come back, Margins said
“They love it and what our users are saying is they can't wait for it to expand further,” he said. “They want to use Waymo for all the miles they drive.”
More than 50,000 people have signed up for the waiting list in Los Angeles. Waymo plans to offer free service for the next two weeks to those on the list before moving to paid fares through its app, just like Uber or Lyft.
Waymo already operates in San Francisco and Phoenix, where a series of recent incidents with robo-taxis in both cities have raised existing safety concerns and sparked hostility.
Just last month in San Francisco, a driverless Waymo car collided with a cyclist, causing minor injuries. The company said its automated taxi was parked in four directions when a large truck entered the intersection. The robo-taxi waited its turn, then continued through the intersection, but did not spot the cyclist standing behind the truck.
“When they became fully visible, our car applied heavy braking but was unable to avoid the collision,” the company said.
Days later, a small crowd set an empty Waymo car on fire. Other city residents placed cones and blocked vehicles.
In Phoenix, Waymo vehicles collided with the same towed pickup truck twice. “Waymo AV incorrectly predicted the future movement of the towed vehicle,” the company said. The incident resulted in a voluntary recall of the program.
Also in Los Angeles last month, a Waymo test vehicle crashed into a closed gate at the University of Southern California. Waymo said its vehicle was leaving campus after dropping off passengers when it drove into the automatic gate while it was in motion. The auto-taxi braked but crashed into the gate, resulting in some minor scratches.
The flight by Los Angeles Times reporters Monday afternoon demonstrated the shortcomings of robotic technology. The car would sometimes pull over in front of exit lanes, and with Waymo's microphones set to mute, there was no way to tell it to stop any further.
On a corner near Crypto.com Square, a group of teenagers on bikes were loudly telling police that there was a man with a gun. In most cases, drivers may start from there. But the backseat driving instructions were useless again. There was only a button to call customer service.
Fortunately, the man accused of possessing a gun calmly went to police eventually, while the Waymo car – which was about to stop near the stadium – stopped nearby. A few minutes later, along Skid Row, the car stopped several feet from the tent. It was not clear if there was anyone inside, but a human driver would know that this was rude and embarrassing.
In San Francisco — where Waymo's largest fleet of 250 robotaxis is based, and residents have become more accustomed to their presence — far more serious incidents have occurred. One Waymo robotaxi competitor, Cruise, pulled over a person on a street last year, and the company allegedly failed to disclose the footage to the state Department of Motor Vehicles. The DMV suspended the General Motors-owned company's permits and Cruise has since halted its U.S. operations.
But while Cruise is sidelined, dozens of other robotaxi companies are testing it on California streets. According to the DMV, as of February 2, 38 companies had permits to test autonomous vehicles with a backup safety driver, six companies were allowed to test autonomous vehicles and three manufacturers could deploy autonomous vehicles. There have been no fatal accidents reported, and there have been a few accidents resulting in serious injuries, according to the DMV.
He drives a Waymo robo-taxi near Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles.
(Allen J. Chapin/Los Angeles Times)
But the expansion of robotaxis has drawn protests from local leaders over safety concerns, even as Waymo says its self-driving cars have driven more than 7 million miles and are better than humans at avoiding collisions. There is also growing concern among some who worry about the implications of a robot poised to take over tens of thousands of driving jobs across the province.
“People are concerned that the level of sophistication of self-driving vehicles is limited right now,” said California Sen. Dave Cortez (D-San Jose), who has introduced a bill that would give local officials more control over autonomous vehicles. Among other things, this will allow the local government to cap the number of robotaxis and limit where the cars can drive.
He says cities should have the right to create no-go zones — for example, near schools — or restrict car traffic at airports and other locations without having to wait for lawmakers in Sacramento.
Mayor Karen Bass asked the CPUC in November to increase scrutiny of motor vehicle companies, and said the city should have a say in how they are regulated.
At the time, it said one of Waymo's self-driving cars operating in Los Angeles initially failed to stop for a traffic officer at Beaudry Street and Wilshire Boulevard on Aug. 3, 2023. The officer was signaling eastbound and westbound traffic to stop. .
There are many other pieces of legislation to impose more regulations on vehicles. California Assemblyman Matt Haney of San Francisco recently introduced a bill that would force self-driving car companies in California to report to the DMV collisions, traffic violations, disengagements, assaults or harassment that would be posted online within 30 days. The bill will allow the public to submit accident reports.
Already, the DMV requires manufacturers to report accidents that result in property damage, bodily injury or death within 10 days. The agency can revoke or suspend permits when it determines an “unreasonable risk to public safety.”
But some question what taxis can do for society, even if they are safe.
“There are very real social questions about what the future holds,” said Melissa Siefkin, a social and behavioral researcher who specializes in people's interactions with automated vehicles.
Tens of thousands of people could lose their jobs in the future – from taxi drivers to truck drivers – and most people had little say in whether, where and how this technology would be applied.
“I'm a San Francisco Bay Area native, and no one has reached out to say 'OK, we're testing our cars on public roads,'” said Sivkin, a former researcher at Waymo and Nissan's self-driving car lab. “Honestly, there are still questions about, is this important to pay attention to? Why is it a big deal to get human drivers out of their seats? You know, there is hunger in the world, there are wars, there is poverty.
