Fire chiefs are fed up with the constant tangle between robo-taxis and firefighters on the streets of San Francisco.

“They are not ready for prime time,” said Chief Janine Nicholson.

Nicholson is talking about Waymo and Cruise’s driverless taxis, which pick up passengers and drop them off in designated areas of the city. Now, these companies want to rapidly expand their services across cities, without limits, day or night, in any weather. And state regulators appear ready to approve their request.

City leaders are concerned — not just in San Francisco, but in Los Angeles and Santa Monica, Waymo and another robo-taxi company, Motional, have expressed concern. Preparation To deployment As soon as state regulators flash the green light, we will offer an AI-operated robo-taxis service.

Despite proving to be inept at dealing with fire trucks, ambulances, and police cars, the robo-taxis industry is allowed to go too fast and destroy things, making robo-taxis on public roads even more difficult. Placements are increasing, officials say. And with California authorities setting the rules, cities have little say in regulating self-driving cars, he said.

“I’m not against technology. I know it’s important and that’s the way the industry is going,” Nicholson said. “But we need to fix what is currently not working before it affects other parts of the city.”

Tracked by State Regulators Robotaxi clashHowever, it does not track data on traffic flow problems, such as road blockages or fire engine blockages.

But the fire department does. Since January 1, the fire department has recorded reports of at least 39 robo-taxis incidents.

As the driverless industry points out, robot cars don’t get tired, drunk or crawling, and they won’t get distracted by your iPhone, but they’ll get stuck in traffic for no apparent reason. often stop. These robo-obstacles can be short-lived, but in some cases they last long enough to require robo-taxi employees to travel to the scene and move the vehicle out of the way.

The fire department’s case includes a report about a robo-taxis.

• Pushing through yellow emergency tape, ignoring warning signs into a street littered with storm-damaged power lines, and past an emergency vehicle with some of the power lines tangled in a lidar sensor on the roof.
• The fire station’s driveway was blocked twice, requiring an ambulance from another fire station to be dispatched in the event of a medical emergency.
• Sit motionless on a one-way street and force the fire engine to back up and take another route to the burning building.
• He parked behind a fire truck whose emergency lights were flashing, blocking firefighters from lowering the ladder.
• Enter an active fire and park with one of the tires on top of the fire hose.

A robo-taxis blocked the lane in front of emergency responders in the city’s Mission District after a June 9 shooting that injured nine people. Another lane was open, but in a news release the fire department said the blockage could have been “catastrophic” on the narrower streets.

To deal with troubled robo-taxis, firefighters will attempt to communicate with remote robo-taxis operators, and in some cases move their vehicles out of the way.

If that is not possible, robo-taxi companies will have to send humans to the scene. In one case, a firefighter had to guide a robo-taxi to break through a window out of the way.

“Dealing with Life and Death”

The fire chief said each robo-taxi company offers training to deal with “brick” vehicles.

“We get 160,000 calls a year. We don’t have time to personally take care of a car that is in the way on our way to an emergency,” she said.

Cruise spokeswoman Hannah Lindow said the company is “proud of its published safety record, which includes millions of miles driven in extremely complex urban environments.” It is important to us that we interact properly with emergency responders, so we maintain open communication with first responders, receive feedback, and discuss specific incidents to improve our response. ”

Waymo released a prepared statement. “Safety is central to our mission and we have shared details more consistently than any other company.” [autonomous vehicle] Contact us for insights on our methodology and our performance. We believe this transparency will benefit our passengers, who enjoy safe, accessible and fun mobility options tens of thousands of times a week, and foster a richer conversation about safety in the industry. believe. ”

Nicholson confirmed that no one has yet been killed or injured as a result of the robo-taxis cheating. “But I don’t want anything bad to happen because I can’t be there. A fire can double in size in a minute. We’re dealing with life and death.” , I don’t mean to say it dramatically.”

California’s robotaxi industry falls under the jurisdiction of two state agencies: the Department of Motor Vehicles, which issues permits and is responsible for safety, and the California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates commercial passenger services such as buses, taxis and limousines. .

Public Fee Commission set to vote Robotaxi expansion on June 29th. The resolution to be voted on will highlight issues such as obstructing traffic flow and emergency workers under the agency’s own rules. Cannot be used to deny extended permissions. The resolution lists four “goals” to consider. Improving transportation for disadvantaged people. Reduction of greenhouse gases. and passenger safety.

Critics say the commission is concerned with the safety of robo-taxis passengers, but leaves other safety issues to the DMV. The DMV collects data on crashes and has the power to suspend permits, but so far it has not taken any action or issued any statements regarding the robo-taxis’ obstruction of firefighters. do not have.

The DMV declined to interview director Steve Gordon, but issued a statement suggesting the four-year-old rule could be revised at some point. “The DMV used a public process to develop the autonomous vehicle rule,” which allows stakeholders (local, state, federal agencies, academia, interest groups, industry representatives, etc.) to provide input into the development. Did. Comments provided during this process were considered and included as part of the rulemaking of the Final Reason Statement. The DMV implemented his first regulation in 2014, his second in 2018, and his third in 2019. Future regulations will use a similar process, inviting the public and other stakeholders to participate and comment. ”

The problem of robo-taxis regulation is not limited to the expansion of robo-taxis. The entire way California regulates self-driving technology is being questioned.

The DMV has come under fire in state legislatures, which passed a bill in May stripping some of the agency’s powers to regulate unmanned heavy-rig trucks. Several lawmakers said they voted yes because they thought the DMV was not doing enough to regulate driverless cars.

Safety data censored

In 2021, the DMV will partner with Waymo in a court-approved contract to ensure that self-driving car companies will not only share trade secrets, but also safety performance, such as most details of crash reports and how the company responds to self-driving car emergencies. Basic information about is also censored. .

The industry is strict about the information it releases to the public regarding its operation on public roads.

Waymo did not disclose how many vehicles it has in San Francisco. Cruise said it operates between 150 and 300 vehicles and couldn’t be more accurate. Neither company has disclosed how large its fleet will be or how quickly it will expand. Neither Waymo nor Motional have disclosed how many robo-taxis they are testing in Santa Monica and Los Angeles.

Notoriously fastidious San Francisco city officials, led by Mayor London Breed, banded together to oppose the expansion plan until issues of traffic flow, emergency sites and better communication between businesses and the city were resolved. ing.

“Normally, the mayor is on the side of the business and the supervisor is on the other side,” said Aaron Peskin, a member of the oversight board. “We are saying don’t give them everything they want until these things are proven. Don’t make us guinea pigs.”

The fire chief wonders why the ability to deal with emergencies wasn’t made a priority.

“If they can do all these things with AI, I’m sure they’ll understand this,” Nicholson said.

The Public Works Board has drawn endorsements from dozens of groups, including business groups such as the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and disability advocacy groups such as the American Council of the Blind. The former argues that the development of robotaxis is essential to keep California at the forefront of innovation, while the latter argues that easy and equitable transportation for all is a social good that benefits everyone. claim to be. No one on either side of the argument disagrees with either claim.

However, agencies such as the Los Angeles Department of Transportation and the City of Santa Monica submitted comments to the commission, arguing that robo-taxis should be rolled out in phases as issues are identified and addressed. They also called for greater data transparency on robotaxi safety issues.

The industry has responded by filing papers opposing any kind of phased rollout.

why are you in such a hurry? Robotaxi companies are spending huge amounts of money developing expensive artificial intelligence technology and are looking for a return on investment.

Cruise, which is owned by General Motors, has plenty of cash. Even deeper into Waymo, which is owned by Google’s Alphabet. But the pressure is on. Ford and Volkswagen closed their robotaxi joint venture Argo in October, concluding that investing the money in electric vehicles and driver assistance and safety systems would yield better returns.

The Public Utilities Commission’s robo-taxis expansion plan will be considered as part of the June 29 “Consent Agenda” package, which will be passed or rejected by a single vote of the Commission’s five members. 50 decrees and resolutions on various issues are collected. . one of those commissioners, Lawyer John Reynolds, appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2021. At the time, he was acting as Cruise’s general counsel.