Recently, a passenger named Mike Johns experienced an unexpected incident while riding in a Waymo self-driving taxi. He had planned to travel from Los Angeles to Scottsdale, Arizona, but instead found himself stuck in a parking lot, going around in circles. He recorded this experience and uploaded it online, quickly drawing widespread attention and once again raising public concerns about the safety of autonomous driving technology.
Read Also...:
Rachel Reeves confirms 15% cut to Civil Service running costs
03-25, 2025
Snow White: Live-action remake of Disney classic tops box office despite bad reviews
03-25, 2025
Donald Trump threatens US tariffs on countries buying Venezuelan oil
03-25, 2025
Morrisons to close 52 cafes and 17 convenience stores
03-25, 2025Mr. Johns's experience is not an isolated case. Previously, Waymo recalled over 600 vehicles due to a car hitting a light pole. In addition, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) also launched an investigation in May 2024 into 22 accidents involving Waymo vehicles. Although Waymo claims that its autonomous driving system is superior to human drivers in avoiding accidents that cause personal injury, these incidents undoubtedly cast a shadow over the safety of its technology.
Competition in the autonomous driving field is fierce, and other companies are also facing challenges. General Motors has shut down its autonomous driving subsidiary, Cruise, citing that "scaling the business requires significant time and resources." In October 2023, a Cruise car struck a pedestrian and dragged them for more than 6 meters, causing serious injuries. Apple has also abandoned its rumored self-driving car project, and Uber abandoned related efforts as early as 2020. Nevertheless, companies such as Amazon's Zoox, chipmaker Nvidia, and Elon Musk's Tesla are still actively participating in the competition.
Waymo currently leads in the United States, operating self-driving taxi services in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin, Texas, and plans to launch soon in Atlanta and Miami. Sven Beiker, a lecturer at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business, believes that Waymo's success is due to talent, funding, and processes. He points out that Waymo employs many top talents in the field of autonomous driving, has the strong financial support of Google's parent company, Alphabet, and is very rigorous in its processes, working with regulators to ensure the safety of its deployments.
In the future, regions with good weather conditions may be the first to popularize autonomous driving services. Philipp Kampshoff of the consulting firm McKinsey said that this includes Texas and Florida in the southern United States, where Waymo has already made plans. He added that self-driving taxis operate better in good weather conditions and still face challenges in adverse weather. In addition, warm conditions are also conducive to battery performance, which is especially important for autonomous vehicles that require a lot of energy to support on-board computing.
However, the promotion of autonomous driving technology still faces many challenges. Beiker pointed out that this is a labor-intensive process that requires repeatedly driving vehicles and manually editing data. Kampshoff also emphasized that safety is key, and operations may be shut down in the event of a major accident. David Liu, CEO of Plus, said that for autonomous trucks, safety is the primary concern and needs to be safer than human-driven vehicles. He believes that autonomous trucks need to be technologically improved to better observe their surroundings and handle longer braking distances.
In China, the development of autonomous driving technology is also worth noting. In Wuhan, Baidu operates more than 500 self-driving cars. It is reported that 16 cities across the country operate self-driving cars, and 19 manufacturers are conducting tests. Beiker said that the Chinese market is highly competitive, with four or five companies very similar to Waymo. Reflecting on his own experience, Mr. Johns said, "We are all part of a paid experiment, and they are fixing it city by city, which is a problem."
