On May 15th, it was reported that autonomous vehicles are considered to be a savior in the transportation industry, but the reality is that current self-driving technology is not yet mature, which is causing major issues in San Francisco.
According to NBC News, autonomous vehicles from Cruise, a subsidiary of General Motors, and Waymo, a subsidiary of Google, are causing three 911 calls per day in San Francisco after receiving permits to offer taxi services in the city in 2022. The report states that these vehicles become confused and come to a complete stop when encountering construction or emergency vehicles, resulting in traffic congestion.
The city’s fire department and emergency responders are particularly concerned, with one fire chief stating that she sees at least one incident related to autonomous vehicles every day. Other reports submitted by the fire department include incidents where autonomous vehicles drove towards the scene of a fire and crushed a fire hose. One report stated that firefighters had to break one of the vehicle’s windows to bring it to a stop. The interviewed fire chief believes that these vehicles “aren’t ready for prime time yet.”
It is understood that San Francisco’s local transport department has limited jurisdiction over Google and General Motors due to California’s special rules at the state level. General Motors has not commented on the matter, while Waymo’s Chief Safety Officer Mauricio Pena was interviewed and claimed that their vehicles “rarely have incidents,” but when it was pointed out that the city is receiving three 911 calls per day due to autonomous vehicles, he said these “rare incidents” are “relative to the miles we’re driving and the number of alerts we’re facing each day.” Pena also said they plan to increase the number of Waymo vehicles driving on San Francisco streets tenfold this summer, which has caused dissatisfaction from the city’s transportation director, Jeffrey Tumlin, who claims that if Waymo executes its plans, “it will have a huge impact on traffic congestion, causing significant delays in our public transit system and affecting response times for emergency vehicles.”