Waymo announced Thursday that its robotaxi service is now available to and from San Francisco International Airport, ahead of upcoming major events in the Bay Area including the Super Bowl and World Cup.
The autonomous vehicle company said in a blog post access to SFO is being offered to “a select number of riders”, which will expand gradually over the coming months.
“Serving rides to and from San Francisco International Airport delivers one of the most requested features for our riders and further deepens our relationship with the city,” said Tekedra Mawakana, the company’s co-CEO. “With millions traveling in for major events this year, we look forward to meeting the growing demand for reliable, fully autonomous rides.”
Initially, Waymo will conduct pickups and drop-offs at the Rental Car Center, which connects to the terminals via AirTrain. The company said there are plans in the future to serve additional airport locations, including the terminals.
“As the global gateway to a region of innovation, this new option demonstrates our continued commitment to providing an extraordinary travel experience with transportation options that are safe, sustainable, and reliable,” said airport director Mike Nakornkhet.
While many riders are excited, some others are concerned that the autonomous cars are just not ready for busy airports.
Mark Gruberg has been driving taxis for roughly 40 years. He said that if Waymos are eventually allowed to go directly to the terminal, he sees major problems in the future.
“Any one car can paralyze the airport entrances and exits if it’s in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Gruberg said. “These vehicles have not shown, in my mind, they have not yet shown they’re capable of handling places as busy as crazy and as sensitive as an airport.”
Gruberg also worries about Waymos operating at higher speeds on the highway. And with the airport, he said that without a driver behind the wheel, he wonders what would happen if there were ever a cyber-attack or a terrorism threat.
“It’s a tremendous difference having a driver in the car because the driver can smell out some problem that’s in the making and very possibly stop it from happening,” he said.
While there are already many transportation options to get to the airport, San Francisco resident Carl Penny feels SFO could use another addition.
“San Francisco is a pretty busy place,” Penny said. “Especially the airport. I’ve seen thousands of people come and go throughout the day. It’s definitely needed.”
The launch of SFO service comes less than three months after robotaxi service was expanded to San Jose Mineta International Airport. Waymo also offers robotaxi service to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
In the Bay Area, Waymo offers rides to most of San Francisco, parts of the Peninsula and in some South Bay communities, including Mountain View, Sunnyvale and parts of San Jose.
Jensen Huang opened CES 2026 with a 90-minute keynote on Nvidia’s latest innovations. Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is the biggest celebrity in Las Vegas this week. His CES keynote at the Fontainebleau Resort proved harder to get into than any sold-out Vegas shows. Journalists who cleared their schedules for the event waited for hours outside the 3,600-seat BleauLive Theatre. Many who arrived on time—after navigating the sprawling maze of conference venues and, in some cases, flying in from overseas to see the tech king of the moment—were turned away due to overcapacity and redirected to a watch party outside, where some 2,000 attendees gathered in a mix of frustration and reverence.
Shortly after 1 p.m., Huang jogged onto the stage, wearing a glistening, embossed black leather jacket, and wished the crowd a happy New Year. He opened with a brisk history of A.I., tracing the last few years of exponential progress—from the rise of large language models to OpenAI’s advances in reasoning systems and the explosion of so-called agentic A.I. All of it built toward the theme that dominated the bulk of his 90-minute presentation: physical A.I.
Physical A.I. is a concept that has gained momentum among leading researchers over the past year. The goal is to train A.I. systems to understand the intuitive rules humans take for granted—such as gravity, causality, motion and object permanence—so machines can reason about and safely interact with real environments.
Nvidia enters the self-driving race
Huang unveiled Alpamayo, a world foundational model designed to power autonomous driving. He called it “the world’s first reasoning autonomous driving A.I.”
To demonstrate, Nvidia played a one-shot video of a Mercedes vehicle equipped with Alpamayo navigating busy downtown San Francisco traffic. The car executed turns, stopped for lights and vehicles, yielded to pedestrians and changed lanes. A human driver sat behind the wheel throughout the drive but did not intervene.
One particularly interesting thing Huang discussed was how Nvidia trains physical A.I. systems—a fundamentally different challenge from training language models. Large language models learn from text, of which humanity has produced enormous quantities. But how do you teach an A.I. Newton’s second law of motion?
“Where does that data come from?” Huang asked. “Instead of languages—because we created a bunch of text that we consider ground truths that A.I. can learn from—how do we teach an A.I. the ground truths of physics? There are lots and lots of videos, but it’s hardly enough to capture the diversity of interactions we need.”
Nvidia’s answer is synthetic data: information generated by A.I. systems based on samples of real-world data. In the case of Alpamayo, another Nvidia world model—called Cosmos—uses limited real-world inputs to generate far more complex, physically plausible videos. A basic traffic scenario becomes a series of realistic camera views of cars interacting on crowded streets. A still image of a robot and vegetables turns into a dynamic kitchen scene. Even a text prompt can be transformed into a video with physically accurate motion.
Nvidia said the first fleet of Alpamayo-powered robotaxis, built in the 2025 Mercedes-Benz CLA vehicles, is slated to launch in the U.S. in the first quarter, followed by Europe in the second quarter and Asia later in 2026.
For now, Alpamayo remains a Level 2 autonomous driving system—similar to Tesla’s Full Self-Driving—which requires a human driver to remain attentive behind the wheel at all times. Nvidia’s longer-term goal is Level 4 autonomy, where vehicles can operate without human supervision in specific, constrained environments. That’s one step below full autonomy, or Level 5.
“The ChatGPT moment for physical A.I. is nearly here,” Huang said in a voiceover accompanying one of the videos shown during the keynote.
Waymo, the ride-hailing service, says it is planning a voluntary software recall to fix a glitch after reports its self-driving cars don’t stop for school buses. The company has already tried to fix the issue, but police in Texas said it didn’t work. Kris Van Cleave reports.
Get ready to see self-driving vehicles cruising across Minneapolis.
Waymo, owned by Google parent company Alphabet, says “a mixed fleet of our Jaguar I-PACE and Zeekr RT vehicles” will hit the streets starting Thursday morning in its efforts to “lay the early groundwork” for full service in Minnesota’s largest city.
“To prepare for Minneapolis’ winter weather, we’ve made great strides in our efforts to operate in heavier snow — including testing in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, California’s Sierra Nevada, and Upstate New York,” Waymo said in a statement.
State lawmakers and safe-driving advocates are hailing the company’s arrival, including the bipartisan co-chairs of the Minnesota House Transportation Finance and Policy Committee.
“We support proven, safe, and reliable options to our transit network that directly supports our goals of modernizing our infrastructure, while creating a cleaner, more efficient transportation system,” said Republican Rep. Jon Koznick.
A Waymo vehicle on the streets of Minneapolis on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025.
WCCO
“We are committed to ensuring autonomous deployment like Waymo’s is done responsibly, leveraging this innovation to improve connectivity, reduce congestion, and secure Minnesota’s place as a national leader in the future of mobility,” said Democratic Rep. Erin Koegel.
Lauren Johnson, regional executive director of the Minnesota chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, says Waymo’s arrival will also help cut down on the number of impaired drivers on Minneapolis streets.
“MADD has been a long-time partner with Waymo, and we are proud of our shared commitment to protect drivers, passengers, pedestrians, and the community,” Johnson said.
Is Waymo really ready for prime time?
While Waymo — whose driverless taxi fleets first hit the streets of Phoenix in 2020 — positions itself as a transportation panacea, the company has been criticized for risky road testing of its fleets in real traffic.
In an incident earlier this year near Atlanta, a Waymo vehicle failed to yield for a school bus that had its red lights activated. And in an incident in San Francisco, a police officer spotted a Waymo vehicle making an illegal U-turn, leading to a very confusing traffic stop.
The company argues that its own safety data shows 91% fewer serious injury crashes, and 92% fewer crashes injuring a pedestrian, compared to a human driver.
Robert Sumwalt, a former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, told CBS MoneyWatch last year that self-driving vehicles are “not a perfect science yet.”
“Right now it’s like trying to send a rocket to the moon in 1910 when the Wright Brothers were still working on their planes,” said Sumwalt, who is currently CBS News’ transportation safety analyst.
Earlier this month, Sumwalt warned Waymo and other autonomous vehicle companies “need to be held to a higher standard.”
“Before we have widespread use of self-driving vehicles, we’ve got to make sure that they are implemented properly,” he said.
In a statement to WCCO, the Minnesota Department of Transportation said state law “neither prohibits nor specifically authorizes automated vehicles to conduct testing on streets in Minnesota.”
Tekedra Mawakana, co-CEO of Waymo, speaks onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 on Oct. 27, 2025 in San Francisco. Photo by Kimberly White/Getty Images for TechCrunch
Waymo, the self-driving company owned by Alphabet, is soon hitting the highways. Operating on highways is just one part of a rapid expansion plan that includes moving to six U.S. cities, entering international markets and launching service at airports—all while maintaining a focus on safety above all else.
“It is imperative that we scale,” said Tekedra Mawakana, co-CEO of Waymo, while speaking at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 today (Oct. 27). Mawakana said Waymo plans to increase its weekly autonomous rides from the “hundreds of thousands” to one million by the end of 2026. The company already operates in Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta and Austin, but hopes to more than double its footprint by expanding into Miami, Dallas, Denver, Seattle, Nashville and Washington, D.C.
Waymo will begin operations in Miami early next year, Mawakana said. Timelines for other cities will depend on local regulatory readiness. In some markets, Waymo will “just show up and they’ll launch,” she said. Others, like Washington D.C., will require more groundwork before fully autonomous rides can roll out.
The company is also setting its sights overseas. Last year, Waymo announced plans to test operations in Tokyo through partnerships with taxi firms GO and Nihon Kotsu, using human-driven cars to train its technology in the city’s dense urban environment. London is next: the company revealed earlier this month that it will begin offering fully autonomous rides there in 2026.
Waymo’s expansion isn’t limited to geography—it’s moving onto new types of roads. Until now, its vehicles have been restricted mostly to surface streets. But the company has begun highway testing through employee trials in Phoenix, Los Angeles and San Francisco. “We think it’s really important to conceptualize the ways in which that experience is different than surface streets,” said Mawakana, adding that highway rides will open to the public by year’s end.
The move to highways will also make it easier for Waymo to facilitate airport trips—a category that the company is “super focused” on, according to Mawakana. Waymo has already secured permits to operate at airports in San Francisco and San Jose and hopes to add more as its vehicles become a more common sight on highways.
Unlocking more roads raises the stakes for safety. Waymo, which publishes its safety data online, reports that its vehicles are involved in 91 percent fewer high-severity crashes, 78 percent fewer airbag-deployment crashes and 80 percent fewer injury-causing crashes compared to human drivers. If that record began to slip, Mawakana said the company would “absolutely” slow its expansion. “That’s what it means to be a safety-first culture.”
Part of that culture, she added, is being transparent about the limits of the technology. “I’m not telling you 100 percent across the board, and that’s really important,” said Mawakana. “We have to be in this open and honest dialogue about the fact that we know it’s not perfection.”
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi says autonomous cars will act as a “catalyst” for EV adoption as Uber expands its global self-driving footprint. Photo by Riccardo Savi/Getty Images for Concordia Annual Summit
The once-booming U.S. market for electric vehicles is slowing, but Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi isn’t fazed. Speaking today (Sept. 23) at the Concordia Summit in New York, he said Uber’s push into self-driving cars could act as a “catalyst” for EV adoption.
Beyond safety and affordability, autonomous vehicles (AVs) offer another key advantage: sustainability. “The other really positive factor with AVs is that AVs are, by nature, also electric,” said Khosrowshahi, who pointed to Uber’s growing autonomous footprint in the U.S. as a way to help revive the country’s flailing EV transition.
Uber, led by Khosrowshahi since 2017, currently offers AV rides in Austin, Atlanta and Phoenix through a partnership with Alphabet’s Waymo. Abroad, the company has teamed up with China-based WeRide to provide autonomous rides overseen by human safety drivers in Middle Eastern cities like Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
That footprint is set to expand. Later this year, Uber plans to launch in Germany and unveil new projects across Asia, Khosrowshahi said, noting the company now works with about 20 AV partners worldwide. “Autonomous is happening now, and it’s expanding all over the world.”
A supportive regulatory framework is crucial when selecting AV markets, according to Khosrowshahi, who emphasized that robot drivers are five times safer than humans. “They don’t get distracted, they’re not texting, and most of these AV models will have driven over 1,000 times the miles that you and I will ever drive,” he said.
Launching in regions where Uber has a strong presence is another advantage. Adding AV services to an existing network makes operations more efficient and helps offset high costs—self-driving cars can run well over $100,000 each. “You want these vehicles as highly utilized as possible,” noted Khosrowshahi.
Over time, AVs are expected to lower fares, which could fuel demand. To avoid worsening congestion, Khosrowshahi envisions a future dominated by shared autonomous rides carrying multiple passengers, which he called a “newer development” in the field. That’s why Uber has been investing in services like UberX Share, which lets riders split trips and costs, he said.
While AVs have been in development for decades, advances in A.I. have pushed the technology into new territory. Earlier generations of self-driving cars were largely deterministic. With the advent of large language models, modern systems can now handle complex real-world driving by learning through observation in more human-like ways. After years of research, they are “finally ready for prime time,” Khosrowshahi said. “The rate of acceleration in terms of the development of the technology, the safety of the technology, is pretty extraordinary.”
DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. government’s road safety agency is investigating Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” system after getting reports of crashes in low-visibility conditions, including one that killed a pedestrian.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in documents that it opened the probe on Thursday after the company reported four crashes when Teslas encountered sun glare, fog and airborne dust.
In addition to the pedestrian’s death, another crash involved an injury, the agency said.
Investigators will look into the ability of “Full Self-Driving” to “detect and respond appropriately to reduced roadway visibility conditions, and if so, the contributing circumstances for these crashes.”
The investigation covers roughly 2.4 million Teslas from the 2016 through 2024 model years.
A message was left Friday seeking comment from Tesla, which has repeatedly said the system cannot drive itself and human drivers must be ready to intervene at all times.
Last week Tesla held an event at a Hollywood studio to unveil a fully autonomous robotaxi without a steering wheel or pedals. Musk, who has promised autonomous vehicles before, said the company plans to have autonomous Models Y and 3 running without human drivers next year. Robotaxis without steering wheels would be available in 2026 starting in California and Texas, he said.
The investigation’s impact on Tesla’s self-driving ambitions isn’t clear. NHTSA would have to approve any robotaxi without pedals or a steering wheel, and it’s unlikely that would happen while the investigation is in progress. But if the company tries to deploy autonomous vehicles in its existing models, that likely would fall to state regulations. There are no federal regulations specifically focused on autonomous vehicles, although they must meet broader safety rules.
NHTSA also said it would look into whether any other similar crashes involving “Full Self-Driving” have happened in low visibility conditions, and it will seek information from the company on whether any updates affected the system’s performance in those conditions.
“In particular, this review will assess the timing, purpose and capabilities of any such updates, as well as Tesla’s assessment of their safety impact,” the documents said.
Tesla reported the four crashes to NHTSA under an order from the agency covering all automakers. An agency database says the pedestrian was killed in Rimrock, Arizona, in November of 2023 after being hit by a 2021 Tesla Model Y. Rimrock is about 100 miles (161 kilometers) north of Phoenix.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety said in a statement that the crash happened just after 5 p.m. Nov. 27 on Interstate 17. Two vehicles collided on the freeway, blocking the left lane. A Toyota 4Runner stopped, and two people got out to help with traffic control. A red Tesla Model Y then hit the 4Runner and one of the people who exited from it. A 71-year-old woman from Mesa, Arizona, was pronounced dead at the scene.
The collision happened because the sun was in the Tesla driver’s eyes, so the Tesla driver was not charged, said Raul Garcia, public information officer for the department.
Tesla has twice recalled “Full Self-Driving” under pressure from NHTSA, which in July sought information from law enforcement and the company after a Tesla using the system struck and killed a motorcyclist near Seattle.
The recalls were issued because the system was programmed to run stop signs at slow speeds and because the system disobeyed other traffic laws. Both problems were to be fixed with online software updates.
Critics have said that Tesla’s system, which uses only cameras to spot hazards, doesn’t have proper sensors to be fully self driving. Nearly all other companies working on autonomous vehicles use radar and laser sensors in addition to cameras to see better in the dark or poor visibility conditions.
Musk has said that humans drive with only eyesight, so cars should be able to drive with just cameras. He has called lidar (light detection and ranging), which uses lasers to detect objects, a “fool’s errand.”
The “Full Self-Driving” recalls arrived after a three-year investigation into Tesla’s less-sophisticated Autopilot system crashing into emergency and other vehicles parked on highways, many with warning lights flashing.
That investigation was closed last April after the agency pressured Tesla into recalling its vehicles to bolster a weak system that made sure drivers are paying attention. A few weeks after the recall, NHTSA began investigating whether the recall was working.
NHTSA began its Autopilot crash investigation in 2021, after receiving 11 reports that Teslas that were using Autopilot struck parked emergency vehicles. In documents explaining why the investigation was ended, NHTSA said it ultimately found 467 crashes involving Autopilot resulting in 54 injuries and 14 deaths. Autopilot is a fancy version of cruise control, while “Full Self-Driving” has been billed by Musk as capable of driving without human intervention.
The investigation that was opened Thursday enters new territory for NHTSA, which previously had viewed Tesla’s systems as assisting drivers rather than driving themselves. With the new probe, the agency is focusing on the capabilities of “Full Self-Driving” rather than simply making sure drivers are paying attention.
Michael Brooks, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety, said the previous investigation of Autopilot didn’t look at why the Teslas weren’t seeing and stopping for emergency vehicles.
“Before they were kind of putting the onus on the driver rather than the car,” he said. “Here they’re saying these systems are not capable of appropriately detecting safety hazards whether the drivers are paying attention or not.”
Los Angeles — Tesla unveiled its long-awaited robotaxi at a Hollywood studio Thursday night, though fans of the electric vehicle maker will have to wait until at least 2026 before it’s available.
CEO Elon Musk pulled up to a stage at the Warner Bros. studio lot in one of the company’s “Cybercabs,” telling the crowd the sleek, AI-powered vehicles don’t have steering wheels or pedals. He also expressed confidence in the progress the company has made on autonomous driving technology that makes it possible for vehicles to drive without human intervention.
Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk rides in Tesla’s robotaxi at an unveilling event in Los Angeles on Oct. 10, 2024 in this still image taken from video.
Tesla / Handout via REUTERS
Tesla began selling the software, which is called “Full Self-Driving,” nine years ago. But there are doubts about its reliability.
“We’ll move from supervised Full Self-Driving to unsupervised Full Self-Driving, where you can fall asleep and wake up at your destination,” he said. “It’s going to be a glorious future.”
Tesla expects the Cybercabs to cost under $30,000, Musk said. He estimated that the vehicles would become available in 2026, then added “before 2027.”
The company also expects to make the Full Self-Driving technology available on its popular Model 3 and Model Y vehicles in Texas and California next year.
“If they’re going to eventually get to robotaxis, they first need to have success with the unsupervised FSD at the current lineup,” said Seth Goldstein, equity strategist at Morningstar Research. “Tonight’s event showed that they’re ready to take that step forward.”
Tesla had 20 or so Cybercabs on hand and offered event attendees the opportunity to take rides inside the movie studio lot – not on Los Angeles’ roads.
At the presentation, which was dubbed “We, Robot” and was streamed live on Tesla’s website and X, Musk also revealed a sleek minibus-looking vehicle that, like the Cybercab, would be self-driving and can carry up to 20 passengers.
The company also trotted out several of its black and white Optimus humanoid robots, which walked a few feet from the attendees before showing off dance moves in a futuristic-looking gazebo.
Tesla’s Optimus robots dance at an unveiling event in Los Angeles on Oct. 10, 2024, in this still image taken from a video.
Tesla / Handout via REUTERS
Musk estimated that the robots would cost between $28,000-$30,000 and would be able to babysit, mow lawns and fetch groceries, among other tasks.
“Whatever you can think of, it will do,” he said.
The unveiling of the Cybercab comes as Musk tries to persuade investors that his company is more about artificial intelligence and robotics as it struggles to sell its core products, an aging lineup of electric vehicles.
Tesla’s model lineup is struggling and isn’t likely to be refreshed until late next year at the earliest, TD Cowen analyst Jeff Osborne wrote in a research note last week.
Osborne also noted that, in TD Cowen’s view, the “politicization of Elon” is tarnishing the Tesla brand among Democratic buyers in the U.S.
Musk has endorsed former president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and has pushed many conservative causes. Last weekend, he joined Trump at a Pennsylvania rally.
Musk has been saying for more than five years that a fleet of robotaxis is near, enabling Tesla owners to make money by having their cars carry passengers while they’re not being used by their owners.
But he’s acknowledged that past predictions for the use of autonomous driving proved too optimistic. In 2019, he promised the fleet of autonomous vehicles by the end of 2020.
The announcement comes as U.S. safety regulators are investigating Full Self Driving and Autopilot based on evidence that it has a weak system for making sure human drivers pay attention.
In addition, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration forced Tesla to recall Full Self-Driving in February because it enabled speeding and violated other traffic laws, especially near intersections. Tesla was to fix the problems with an online software update.
Last April in Snohomish County, Washington, near Seattle, a Tesla using Full Self-Driving hit and killed a motorcyclist, authorities said. The Tesla driver told authorities he was using the system while looking at his phone when the car rear-ended the motorcyclist. The motorcyclist was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.
NHTSA says it’s evaluating information on the fatal crash from Tesla and law enforcement officials.
The Justice Department also has sought information from Tesla about Full Self-Driving and Autopilot, as well as other items.
Pittsburgh — On a three-lane test track along the Monongahela River, an 18-wheel tractor-trailer rounded a curve. No one was on board.
A quarter-mile ahead, the truck’s sensors spotted a trash can blocking one lane and a tire in another. In less than a second, it signaled, moved into the unobstructed lane and rumbled past the obstacles.
The self-driving semi, outfitted with 25 laser, radar and camera sensors, is owned by Pittsburgh-based Aurora Innovation Inc. Late this year, Aurora plans to start hauling freight on Interstate 45 between the Dallas and Houston areas with 20 driverless trucks.
A self-driving tractor trailer maneuvers around a test track in Pittsburgh on March 14, 2024. The truck is owned by Pittsburgh-based Aurora Innovation Inc. Aurora plans to start hauling freight on Interstate 45 between the Dallas and Houston areas with 20 driverless trucks late this year.
Gene J. Puskar / AP
Within three or four years, Aurora and its competitors expect to put thousands self-driving trucks on America’s public freeways. The goal is for the trucks, which can run nearly around the clock without breaks, to speed the flow of goods, accelerating delivery times.
The image of a fully loaded, 80,000-pound driverless truck on a super-highway at 65 mph or more may strike a note of terror. A January poll by AAA found that a majority of Americans – 66% – said they would fear riding in an autonomous vehicle.
But in less than nine months, trucks with Aurora’s systems will start carrying loads between terminals for FedEx, Uber Freight, Werner and others. Aurora and most rivals plan to start running freight routes in Texas, where snow and ice are generally rare.
For years, it seemed as though the initial venture for autonomous vehicles would be ride hailing in large cities. But General Motors’ Cruise robotaxi unit is struggling in the aftermath of a serious crash. And Alphabet’s Waymo faces opposition to expanding its autonomous ride service in California.
So self-driving trucks are poised to become the first computer-controlled vehicles deployed in widespread numbers on public roads.
Arguments for and against
However, safety advocates warn that with almost no federal regulation, it will be mainly up to the companies to decide when the semis are safe enough to operate without humans on board.
Aurora and other companies argue that years of testing show their trucks will be safer than human-driven ones. They note that the vehicles’ laser and radar sensors can “see” farther than human eyes. The trucks never tire, get distracted or become impaired by alcohol or drugs.
“We want to be out there with thousands or tens of thousands of trucks on the road,” said Chris Urmson, Aurora’s CEO. “And to do that, we have to be safe. It’s the only way that the public will accept it. Frankly, it’s the only way our customers will accept it.”
Phil Koopman, a Carnegie Mellon University professor who studies vehicle automation, agreed that self-driving trucks can theoretically be safer. But he cautioned that the vehicles’ computers inevitably will make errors. And just how the trucks fare on real roads, he said, depends on the quality of their safety engineering.
With billions of dollars in investments at stake, Koopman said, he wonders how the companies will balance safety decisions.
“Everything I see indicates they’re trying to do the right thing,” he said. “But the devil is in the details.”
On the test track, reporters saw Aurora’s semis avoid simulations of road obstacles, including pedestrians, a blown tire, even a horse. The trucks spotted obstacles more than a quarter-mile away and avoided them.
But they were running at only 35 mph in a controlled environment. (The trucks are being tested with human safety drivers on Texas freeways, at higher speeds.)
Since 2021, Aurora trucks have autonomously hauled freight over 1 million miles on public highways with human safety drivers on board. There have been only three crashes, Urmson said, all caused by mistakes by human drivers in other vehicles.
A federal database started in June 2021 shows at least 13 crashes with other vehicles involving autonomous semis, including three involving Aurora. In all cases, the crashes were caused by other vehicles.
Bottom lines
Last month, Urmson said the publicly held company expects to turn a profit by late 2027 or early 2028. To do so, Aurora must deploy thousands of trucks, hauling freight and collecting a per-mile charge from customers.
Aurora, Urmson said, won’t compromise safety, even if doing so might delay turning a profit.
“If we put a vehicle on the road that isn’t sufficiently safe – that we aren’t confident in the safety of – then it kills everything else,” he said.
The company’s competitors – Plus.ai, Gatik, Kodiak Robotics and others – also plan soon to put driverless trucks on the roads hauling freight for customers. Gatik expects it this year or next; the others haven’t set timetables.
Don Burnette, CEO of Kodiak, said freeways are a better environment for autonomous vehicles than cities where ride-hailing robotaxis have been running. There are fewer pedestrians and fewer unexpected things happen.
“Accident waiting to happen”
At a Buc-ee’s mega convenience store along I-45 south of Dallas, the prospect of driverless semis struck a note of fear.
“It sounds like a disaster waiting to happen,” said Kent Franz, a high school basketball coach in Chandler, Oklahoma. “I’ve heard of the driverless cars – Tesla, what have you – and the accidents they’ve been having. Eighteen-wheelers? Something that heavy, relying on technology that has proven it can be faulty? Doesn’t sound very comfortable to me.”
No federal regulations specifically cover autonomous vehicles, Koopman of Carnegie Mellon noted. And most states have none. As a result, he said, the public must trust the companies.
Federal agencies lack authority to stop autonomous vehicles from going on the roads. If something goes wrong, though, they can require recalls or order trucks out of service.
The companies say the driverless semis can help address a truck driver shortage, estimated by the trucking industry to be 64,000 drivers. Yet there also are worries that autonomous trucks eventually will supplant human drivers and cost them their livelihoods.
Aurora’s Urmson said he thinks driverless semis will complement the work already done by human drivers.
“If you’re driving a truck today,” he said, “my expectation is you’re going to be able to retire driving a truck.”
Xpeng is often called the Chinese challenger to Tesla for its efforts to bring advanced driving capabilities to its electric vehicles. It’s now getting a step closer to its American counterpart as it gets rid of high-definition mapping in its XNGP assisted driving feature, its equivalent to Tesla FSD.
Tesla FSD famously does not rely on HD maps, which contain many details such as lane lines, curbs, traffic signs and more. The use of this pre-computed information, combined with sensors like radars and cameras, can help autonomous driving cars to understand the road better and thus drive more safely.
Tesla not only opted out of HD maps but also made the controversial move to also eliminate lidars, the powerful light detection and ranging method that’s a staple sensing technology in the development of self-driving cars.
Xpeng still uses lidars, but it’s taken on a technical challenge by rolling out map-free XNGP in 20 Chinese cities soon, the company announced at its tech day on Wednesday. Being map-free means Xpeng’s urban assisted driving feature can drive anywhere, unlimited by where maps have been made or road condition updates. By the end of this year, the map-free XNGP will be available in 50 Chinese cities.
Other autonomous vehicle teams in China are also racing to remove the expensive HD maps. Deeproute, which has shifted its focus from developing robotaxis to assisted driving for mass-produced passenger cars, unveiled its map-free autonomous driving solution in March.
Last Thursday, California regulators granted approval for robotaxi companies to have their vehicles operate around the clock in San Francisco. A day later, chaos ensued.
Videos shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, displayed approximately 10 stationary Cruise vehicles (a self-driving car company) in San Francisco’s North Beach district on Friday, where the Outside Lands music festival was occurring nearby. Residents called out Cruise self-driving cars on social media for triggering a major traffic jam, CNN reported.
One user who documented the incident described it as a “complete meltdown.”
@Cruise self-driving operations had a complete meltdown earlier in North Beach. We overheard on the scanner that all Cruise vehicle agents were tied up at the time (not literally) and so North Beach was going to get a delayed response. But wow, WTF!pic.twitter.com/D89xrSxAdu
The traffic jam occurred just a day after the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), responsible for overseeing self-driving cars in the state, voted 3-to-1 in favor of Waymo and Cruise expanding their services and granting approval for robotaxi companies to have their autonomous vehicles operate 24/7 throughout the city.
Witnesses told CNN affiliate KPIX-TV that the driverless cars obstructed intersections for around 15 minutes on Friday evening, triggering concerns that emergency vehicles might be hindered from reaching the area.
Self-driving cars were granted approval to operate throughout San Francisco 24/7 on Thursday August 10. Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Cruise responded to the social media outrage on X stating, “We are actively investigating and working on solutions to prevent this from happening again. We apologize to those who were impacted.”
Still, the response on social media has been less than forgiving.
So apparently @cruise vehicles don’t know that they need to come to a complete stop when a pedestrian is in a marked crosswalk.
Just had one pass my dog and me within 2ft. This is not the safe, law-following behavior I was promised.
Some individuals, on the other hand, have welcomed human-less cars. When Cruise co-founder and CEO, Kyle Vogt posted on X following the CPUC approval for Cruise to operate 24/7 in San Francisco, some users responded by saying, “Finally” and “Love seeing your cars around. Looking forward to riding.”
Love seeing your cars around. Looking forward to riding.
— Pedro | Break into Tech Sales ? (@PedroCastenada) August 11, 2023
Meanwhile, local officials still have reservations.
The President of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors, Aaron Peskin, expressed concerns to KPIX-TV, suggesting that Cruise should halt its operations temporarily to refine its technology.
“They’re deploying hundreds of cars on our streets. They should take a timeout and a pause, until they perfect this technology,” Peskin told the outlet.
Text messages between Peskin and a Cruise government affairs manager, reviewed by the San Francisco Chronicle, reveal that the two discussed how cell connectivity issues hindered the company’s ability to reroute connected cars, resulting in about 10 vehicles being stalled at an intersection. Peskin told the outlet that Cruise is now considering establishing a dedicated cellular network for San Francisco operations.
Despite the state’s approval of autonomous vehicles, local authorities have expressed their reservations. Transportation and fire officials have voiced concerns to state regulators that the robotaxis have led to disruptive incidents such as unanticipated halts and erratic driving, The Chronicle reported, and that these occurrences are likely to become even more frequent as companies expand their services.
According to the San Francisco Fire Department, there have been 55 incidents in 2023, up until last week, where driverless vehicles interfered with their emergency operations, per CNN.
Autonomous-driving chairs will deliver passengers to their gates at Winnipeg Richardson International Airport
Press Release –
Dec 13, 2022 09:00 EST
SAN FRANCISCO, December 13, 2022 (Newswire.com)
– WHILL, Inc., a leading developer and service provider of electric mobility chairs, announced today the first permanent installation in North America of its autonomous mobility service at Winnipeg Richardson International Airport.
An estimated one in three travelers will require some form of assistance by the year 2038, making it difficult for airports to meet the additional demands that come with accommodating their needs1. The WHILL autonomous mobility service relieves airlines of fulfilling wheelchair push demands and allows airline passengers to travel more freely by autonomously transporting them to their gates.
After the user selects their destination on a touch screen, the WHILL autonomous power chair proceeds to transport the passenger safely and reliably to the desired gate. The service covers the entire route from check-in counter to security checkpoint, and then to the departure gate to provide a seamless travel experience.
The WHILL autonomous mobility service has been tested during several development trials at Winnipeg Richardson International Airport since 2019 with excellent results.
“We’re excited to see our partnership with WHILL continue to grow to help meet the evolving needs of travelers,” said Nick Hays, President and CEO of Winnipeg Airports Authority. “The addition of their innovative autonomous mobility device as a fully available service at Winnipeg Richardson International Airport is another example of our commitment to providing a more accessible and inclusive environment.”
The WHILL Autonomous Service is just one part of WHILL’s ecosystem designed to improve mobility and reduce barriers across a full spectrum of assistance levels needed by customers, from staying mobile in their home to traveling and navigating public spaces. In addition to autonomous drive technology, WHILL offers the award-winning Model C2 and Model F for full-time use, plus manual drive rentals for malls, museums, multi-day vacation rentals and a variety of other destinations.
“Accessibility is a global issue,” said Kerry Renaud, CEO of WHILL North America. “WHILL products and services are uniquely designed to reduce barriers and improve the quality of life for our customers, and the partnership with Winnipeg Richardson International Airport will influence and expand mobility globally by raising the standard of reliable accessibility in public spaces.”
Previous trials of the WHILL autonomous service in U.S. airports have included Atlanta, San Jose, and Grand Rapids. WHILL plans to announce partnerships with additional airports in North America in 2023.
About WHILL, Inc.
WHILL connects the world with short-distance mobility products and services and provides Mobility-as-a-Service solutions, offering autonomous and manual transportation services that make public spaces like airports, vacation destinations, and convention centers more accessible. From electric mobility scooters to fully autonomous power chairs, WHILL offers products and services in over 20 countries and regions globally. https://whill.inc
About Winnipeg Airports Authority Inc.
Winnipeg Airports Authority serves the community by leading transportation innovation and growth. As a non-share capital corporation, all net revenue is reinvested back into delivering on the mission of providing excellent airport services and facilities in a fiscally prudent manner. WAA does this through a group of companies working together toward a shared vision. www.waa.ca
1 2022 Global Passenger Survey, International Air Transport Association, www.iata.org
Charlottesville, VA, October 25, 2016 (Newswire.com)
– Perrone Robotics, Inc. (“PRI”) announced today that is has received funding from Intel Capital, Intel’s strategic investment and M&A organization. PRI is a robotics software company that has developed a complete full-stack and real-time capable robotics software platform for autonomous (“self-driving”) vehicles and general-purpose robotics. The modular framework allows customers to rapidly develop partially and fully autonomous vehicle and robotics applications, and enables continuous improvements in systems capabilities, including the seamless addition of new sensors, controls, maneuvers, and behaviors.
After having been first fielded in PRI’s autonomous vehicle in the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge and then the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge, PRI’s MAX software has been deployed in many autonomous vehicle and robotics applications. Examples reach from Neil Young’s LincVolt vehicle over LIDAR-based applications at tollbooths on highways to crash testing and crash avoidance robotics systems with a major insurance institute. The funds will be used to further market and commercialize PRI’s robotics software platform offerings.
“In order for the industry to advance complex initiatives such as autonomous driving, it is essential to that we take a platform-centric approach that will enable collaboration across the ecosystem. Wind River is excited to share its automotive expertise and work with innovators like PRI to further advance the automated driving landscape.”
Marques McCammon, General Manager for Connected Vehicle Solutions at Wind River
Intel Corporation and PRI have also entered into a business collaboration agreement, under which they will collaborate regarding certain technical, marketing and sales activities.
As part of this collaboration, Perrone will also work closely with Intel’s portfolio of automotive assets, including identifying software synergies with Intel subsidiary Wind River.
Paul Perrone, PRI’s CEO, said:
“We are very pleased to have received this funding from Intel Capital, and to be working collaboratively with Intel Corporation. The funds received will significantly expand our company’s ability to market and commercialize our product by allowing us to tap into the Intel ecosystem, and forge new alliances with technology partners and other players in the driverless car industry.”
Marques McCammon, General Manager for Connected Vehicle Solutions at Wind River, said:
“In order for the industry to advance complex initiatives such as autonomous driving, it is essential to that we take a platform-centric approach that will enable collaboration across the ecosystem. Wind River is excited to share its automotive expertise and work with innovators like PRI to further advance the automated driving landscape.”
About Perrone Robotics
Perrone Robotics is a robotics software company that has developed a full-stack, modular, real-time capable robotic software platform for autonomous vehicles and general-purpose robotics. Its patented MAX software product enables rapid development of autonomous vehicles and other autonomous robotics applications. Since the early applications of the technology in the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge and 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge, MAX has evolved in its application and use across a wide range of autonomous vehicle platforms. The company’s MAX-Auto software product is a purpose-built platform that is targeted at the self-driving vehicle market.
About Intel Capital
Intel Capital, Intel’s strategic investment and M&A organization, backs innovative startups targeting computing and smart devices, cloud, datacenter, security, the Internet of Things, wearable and robotic technologies and semiconductor manufacturing. Since 1991, Intel Capital has invested US$11.7 billion in 1,457 companies worldwide, and 605 portfolio companies have gone public or been acquired. Through its business development programs, Intel Capital curates thousands of introductions each year between its portfolio executives and Intel’s customers and partners in the Global 2000. For more information on what makes Intel Capital one of the world’s most powerful venture capital firms, visit www.intelcapital.com or follow @Intelcapital.
