We’ve written a few stories lately on why robotaxis may not do much more than replace human-driven taxis. There’s a lot of hype or hope around the idea that many people will switch from car ownership to using robotaxis, but is that really what’s likely to happen? Even beyond that, … [continued]
Waymo has just begun robotaxi service in another city today. If you’re in Nashville, you can now hail a robotaxi from the USA’s #1 robotaxi company. Just start by downloading the Waymo app. “Since April, we’ve welcomed tens of thousands of riders from our interest list to experience the safety, … [continued]
Zoox sort of feels like the robotaxi company that’s often forgotten. Or maybe that’s just me. You’ve got Waymo, which has been in this field for more than 15 years and is operating at the highest scale in the US, you’ve got Tesla and all of the press it gets … [continued]
Waymo has been tracking its safety statistics closely, of course, and even sharing them with other researchers and the public to allow for independent evaluation of how well it’s doing. The short story is: Waymo robotaxis are much safer than human drivers. The company has updated us on some of … [continued]
Robotaxis are being trialled mostly in the US, China, and a few specific niche places like the UAE and Singapore. Europe has been much slower to jump into robotaxi trials. But it’s edging into them now, and we have an announcement about the first robotaxi service launching in Switzerland — … [continued]
Late last night and early this morning, I wrote an article outlining one big reason robotaxis won’t replace car ownership to a very significant degree. There’s another big reason, sort of related to that, that a reader pointed out and explained well, and some other readers backed up in additional … [continued]
I’ve been covering the robotaxi debate for a decade. I still remember a discussion Chris DeMorro and I had 12 years ago about which would end up being a bigger deal — “Tesla D” or Tesla Autopilot — and a subsequent poll. I used to be much more bullish about … [continued]
First of all, compared to taxis and app-based ride-hailing vehicles (Uber and Lyft vehicles), robotaxis may end up competing very well and driving those human-driven options out of the market. However, there’s a huge difference between that limited market and the normal passenger car market. Many robotaxi enthusiasts expect robotaxis … [continued]
Tesla has gotten “Full Self Driving (Supervised)” approved in another European country. Following the Netherlands, Lithuania, Estonia, and Denmark, the driver-assist system is now allowed to be deployed in Belgium. Well, Tesla still has to pass some tests with it, and then it can be rolled out to customers, but … [continued]
Waymo has long been considered the US leader in self-driving vehicles, and parent Google before it when Waymo wasn’t yet a brand. Well, I guess there are many people who have considered Tesla the leader for the past several years, but that is based on the assumption that Tesla’s approach … [continued]
