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"content": "\u003cp>Fewer buses and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12030860/waymo-problems\">Waymo\u003c/a> cars — that’s the plan for San Francisco’s Market Street, coming this summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Thursday, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/daniel-lurie\">Mayor Daniel Lurie\u003c/a> announced that the autonomous vehicle company would begin operating on the city’s main downtown thoroughfare, which has been \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11798594/market-street-is-now-car-free-your-questions-answered\">car-free for five years\u003c/a>, as part of his ongoing revitalization efforts there. But transit and pedestrian advocates say the move will hurt downtown, upending progress made to Muni services and pedestrian and bike safety on the road.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Undoing those successes, the result of two decades of work by city agencies, elected officials, and advocates, moves San Francisco in the wrong direction,” SF Transit Riders, WalkSF, SF Bicycle Coalition and Kid Safe SF said in a joint statement. “It is a step backward to a chaotic, dangerous Market Street that serves no one’s purposes, including businesses.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since taking office, Lurie has been focused on reviving the city’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101908655/how-can-san-francisco-fill-up-empty-offices-and-stores\">vacancy-riddled downtown\u003c/a>. He’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12021879/sf-mayor-lurie-launches-1st-legislative-push-fentanyl-emergency-response\">increased police presence\u003c/a> around Union Square, launched monthly “First Thursdays” block parties on Second Street and most recently, announced that a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12034942/billionaire-backed-nonprofit-fund-san-franciscos-downtown-recovery-projects\">nonprofit formed by some of his high-powered supporters\u003c/a> will raise private funds to beautify the neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“By welcoming Waymo, we’re adding another safe and sustainable way to access shopping, theaters, hotels and restaurants,” Lurie said in a statement. “This is about revitalizing downtown and making it easier for everyone, locals and visitors alike, to enjoy everything our city has to offer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Waymo — which is owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet — plans to begin mapping the street in the coming days and driving passengers up and down Market as soon as this summer, according to Lurie’s office. The announcement comes on the heels of a San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s board of directors vote last week to reduce services on five routes that traverse the road in the face of the agency’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12021178/sf-muni-reducing-bus-light-rail-service-amid-fiscal-crisis-more-cuts-loom\">massive budget deficit,\u003c/a> which could top more than $300 million by 2026.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Julie Kirschbaum, SFMTA’s Director of Transportation, said the agency will work with Lurie and Waymo to ensure that all transportation operations move “safely, reliably and efficiently” along the corridor. However, public transit advocates say that prioritizing privately owned vehicles on public roadways will stunt Muni’s post-pandemic rebound and compound disruptions as the city cuts bus services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=forum_2010101908873 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/43/2025/02/250128-SFImmigration-33-BL-1-1020x574.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Muni ridership dropped by nearly 90% between February and April 2020 but has hit its highest numbers over the past year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Transit riders will now not only need to deal with increased transfers and delays brought on by upcoming service cuts, but also the delays and hazards caused by a fleet of new Waymo vehicles flooding Market Street,” SF Transit Riders community and policy manager Dylan Fabris said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since banning cars, Muni buses and streetcars have been able to increase speed and efficiency by 14% along Market Street, Fabrissaid. Last year, ridership reached 75% of pre-pandemic numbers and appears on track to continue increasing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s unclear if the move is a first step toward allowing more vehicles back onto the road since, technically, Waymo has already been permitted to operate in much of the corridor under the SFMTA traffic regulations adopted at the inception of the car ban.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike Uber and Lyft, the self-driving cars are considered commercial vehicles. Waymo confirmed that until now, it has voluntarily refrained from operating on Market Street despite being legally allowed to do so.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, advocates urged Lurie to rescind the decision and instead focus on increasing business and foot traffic in the downtown sector.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we want Market Street to reclaim its rightful place as a commercial and cultural destination, it should be safe and welcoming to people,” SFBike’s Executive Director Christopher White said. “Prioritizing safe, affordable ways of traveling, like walking, biking and transit, achieves that aim. Handing the street over to a single private company flies in the face of San Francisco’s values and goals.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/danbrekke\">\u003cem>Dan Brekke\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Muni ridership dropped by nearly 90% between February and April 2020 but has hit its highest numbers over the past year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Transit riders will now not only need to deal with increased transfers and delays brought on by upcoming service cuts, but also the delays and hazards caused by a fleet of new Waymo vehicles flooding Market Street,” SF Transit Riders community and policy manager Dylan Fabris said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since banning cars, Muni buses and streetcars have been able to increase speed and efficiency by 14% along Market Street, Fabrissaid. Last year, ridership reached 75% of pre-pandemic numbers and appears on track to continue increasing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s unclear if the move is a first step toward allowing more vehicles back onto the road since, technically, Waymo has already been permitted to operate in much of the corridor under the SFMTA traffic regulations adopted at the inception of the car ban.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike Uber and Lyft, the self-driving cars are considered commercial vehicles. Waymo confirmed that until now, it has voluntarily refrained from operating on Market Street despite being legally allowed to do so.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, advocates urged Lurie to rescind the decision and instead focus on increasing business and foot traffic in the downtown sector.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we want Market Street to reclaim its rightful place as a commercial and cultural destination, it should be safe and welcoming to people,” SFBike’s Executive Director Christopher White said. “Prioritizing safe, affordable ways of traveling, like walking, biking and transit, achieves that aim. Handing the street over to a single private company flies in the face of San Francisco’s values and goals.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/danbrekke\">\u003cem>Dan Brekke\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a> Fire Marshal Ken Cofflin is proposing new safety regulations for electric vehicle charging stations as concerns grow over lithium-ion battery explosions during charging.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2024, the San Francisco Fire Department recorded approximately 15 incidents involving lithium-ion battery explosions across the city — not just in electric cars but also in scooters, bikes and even a \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/sffdpio/status/1839375192273162481?s=12&t=9Xd5t52h703PlyNOIm4Eag\">leaf-blower\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cofflin, who will present his proposal to the San Francisco Fire Commission on Wednesday, is urging the city to mandate advanced sprinkler systems for parking spaces equipped with electric vehicle charging stations to address the heightened fire risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While existing codes already require fire-sprinkler protection, Cofflin’s proposal calls for increasing the water flow capacity of these systems, improving their ability to handle the fire risks from lithium-ion battery incidents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his presentation notes, Cofflin emphasizes the need to update charging station standards, describing lithium-ion batteries and EV charging as “a potential high fire hazard condition.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also wrote that electric vehicles that charge in enclosed spaces, like parking garages, “significantly increase fire-life safety hazards to building occupants, structure, adjacent vehicles, and First Responders.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cofflin’s proposal comes at a crucial time, following the city receiving a $15 million federal grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Grant Program, aimed at expanding and improving access to EV charging stations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12020242 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/04/GettyImages-1383559813-1020x660.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/news--san-francisco-wins-15-million-grant-meet-growing-demand-ev-charging-throughout-city\">press release\u003c/a> last week, the Office of the Mayor announced plans to expand the city’s current number of total charging ports by 30%, aiming to install 300 new charging stations citywide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lithium-ion batteries, when overheated or defective, are prone to exploding, causing a potential range of fires. A class-action \u003ca href=\"https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/56388292/Desparrois_v_Chervon_North_America,_Inc\">lawsuit \u003c/a>was filed this week against Chevron, a global provider of power tools, due to 100 reports of thermal incidents involving the company’s lithium-ion batteries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Monterey Bay County, a state of emergency was declared Tuesday night due to the Vistra Energy battery power storage facility \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12022725/massive-fire-monterey-county-battery-plant-spews-toxic-smoke-forces-evacuations\">fire \u003c/a>in Moss Landing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plant, which is the largest lithium-ion battery storage facility in the world, could not be directly extinguished by crews, as lithium-ion battery fires burn at abnormally high temperatures and are difficult to put out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While most lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicle charging purposes aren’t nearly as large or powerful as those in the Vistra Energy facility, their properties still pose a challenge for firefighters and other first responders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cofflin acknowledged this, highlighting the difficulty of “extinguishment of an inaccessible fire due to extreme temperatures and concealed batteries.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Fire Department Captain Jonathan Baxter also stressed the potential hazards surrounding lithium-ion batteries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While these batteries offer efficient power, mishandling, improper use, charging, or storage can lead to overheating, fires, and even explosions,” he wrote in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Baxter said that overcharging, storing the batteries in direct sunlight and tears in the charging cables can all increase the risk of fire hazards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As lithium-ion batteries become more prevalent in our daily lives, it’s crucial to prioritize safety,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "City officials are pushing for stricter safety regulations at EV charging stations after about 15 lithium-ion battery incidents were reported in 2024, raising fire risks.",
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"title": "SF to Consider New EV Charging Safety Rules as Lithium-Ion Batteries Pose Risk | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a> Fire Marshal Ken Cofflin is proposing new safety regulations for electric vehicle charging stations as concerns grow over lithium-ion battery explosions during charging.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2024, the San Francisco Fire Department recorded approximately 15 incidents involving lithium-ion battery explosions across the city — not just in electric cars but also in scooters, bikes and even a \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/sffdpio/status/1839375192273162481?s=12&t=9Xd5t52h703PlyNOIm4Eag\">leaf-blower\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cofflin, who will present his proposal to the San Francisco Fire Commission on Wednesday, is urging the city to mandate advanced sprinkler systems for parking spaces equipped with electric vehicle charging stations to address the heightened fire risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While existing codes already require fire-sprinkler protection, Cofflin’s proposal calls for increasing the water flow capacity of these systems, improving their ability to handle the fire risks from lithium-ion battery incidents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his presentation notes, Cofflin emphasizes the need to update charging station standards, describing lithium-ion batteries and EV charging as “a potential high fire hazard condition.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also wrote that electric vehicles that charge in enclosed spaces, like parking garages, “significantly increase fire-life safety hazards to building occupants, structure, adjacent vehicles, and First Responders.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cofflin’s proposal comes at a crucial time, following the city receiving a $15 million federal grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Grant Program, aimed at expanding and improving access to EV charging stations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sf.gov/news--san-francisco-wins-15-million-grant-meet-growing-demand-ev-charging-throughout-city\">press release\u003c/a> last week, the Office of the Mayor announced plans to expand the city’s current number of total charging ports by 30%, aiming to install 300 new charging stations citywide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lithium-ion batteries, when overheated or defective, are prone to exploding, causing a potential range of fires. A class-action \u003ca href=\"https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/56388292/Desparrois_v_Chervon_North_America,_Inc\">lawsuit \u003c/a>was filed this week against Chevron, a global provider of power tools, due to 100 reports of thermal incidents involving the company’s lithium-ion batteries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Monterey Bay County, a state of emergency was declared Tuesday night due to the Vistra Energy battery power storage facility \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12022725/massive-fire-monterey-county-battery-plant-spews-toxic-smoke-forces-evacuations\">fire \u003c/a>in Moss Landing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plant, which is the largest lithium-ion battery storage facility in the world, could not be directly extinguished by crews, as lithium-ion battery fires burn at abnormally high temperatures and are difficult to put out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While most lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicle charging purposes aren’t nearly as large or powerful as those in the Vistra Energy facility, their properties still pose a challenge for firefighters and other first responders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cofflin acknowledged this, highlighting the difficulty of “extinguishment of an inaccessible fire due to extreme temperatures and concealed batteries.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Fire Department Captain Jonathan Baxter also stressed the potential hazards surrounding lithium-ion batteries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While these batteries offer efficient power, mishandling, improper use, charging, or storage can lead to overheating, fires, and even explosions,” he wrote in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Baxter said that overcharging, storing the batteries in direct sunlight and tears in the charging cables can all increase the risk of fire hazards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As lithium-ion batteries become more prevalent in our daily lives, it’s crucial to prioritize safety,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>DETROIT — General Motors says it’s leaving the robotaxi business and will stop funding its money-losing Cruise autonomous vehicle unit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead the Detroit automaker announced Tuesday will focus on development of partially automated, hands-free “\u003ca href=\"https://www.gmc.com/connectivity-technology/super-cruise\" target=\"_blank\">Super Cruise\u003c/a>” system for personal vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GM said it would get out of robotaxis “given the considerable time and resources that would be needed to scale the business, along with an increasingly competitive robotaxi market.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company said it will combine Cruise’s technical team with its own to work on advanced systems to assist drivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GM bought control of San Francisco-based Cruise in 2016 with high hopes of developing a profitable fleet of robotaxis. The company’s white-and-orange Chevy Bolts became a familiar sight across the city — often as part of\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/robotaxi-backup-18293208.php\" target=\"_blank\"> self-created traffic tie-ups\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the years GM invested billions in the subsidiary and eventually bought 90% of the company from investors, all while racking up millions in losses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GM’s departure from the autonomous taxi space represents a dramatic about-face from years of full-blown support that left a huge financial dent in the automaker. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company invested $2.4 billion in Cruise only to sustain years of uninterrupted losses, with little in return. Since GM bought a controlling stake in Cruise for $581 million in 2016, the robotaxi service piled up more than $10 billion in operating losses while bringing in less than $500 million in revenue, according to GM shareholder reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The automaker even announced plans for Cruise to generate $1 billion in annual revenue by 2025, but it scaled back spending on the company after one of its vehicles dragged a San Francisco pedestrian who was hit by another vehicle in 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Public Utilities Commission \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11965443/california-dmv-pumps-the-brakes-on-cruise-driverless-taxis-in-san-francisco\" target=\"_blank\">alleged Cruise covered up details\u003c/a> of the crash for more than two weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The embarrassing incident resulted in Cruise’s license to operate its driverless fleet in California being suspended by regulators and triggered a purge of its leadership — in addition to layoffs that jettisoned about a quarter of its workforce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GM CEO Mary Barra told analysts on a conference call Tuesday the revamped Cruise will focus on personal vehicles and developing systems that can drive by themselves in certain circumstances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company has agreements to buy another 7% of Cruise and intends to buy the remaining shares so it owns the whole company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The move is another step back from autonomous vehicles, which have proved far harder to develop than companies once anticipated. Two years ago, crosstown rival Ford Motor Co. disbanded its Argo AI autonomous vehicle venture in Pittsburgh that it co-owned with Volkswagen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time the company said it didn’t see a path to profitability for a number of years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet other companies are pressing forward with plans to deploy autonomous vehicles and expand their services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo is accelerating plans to broaden its robotaxi service beyond areas of metropolitan Phoenix, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Last week the company said it would begin testing its driverless Jaguars in Miami next year, with plans to start charging for rides in 2026.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The move comes less than a month after Waymo opened up its robotaxi service to anyone looking for a ride in an 80-square-mile area of Los Angeles. Waymo also has plans to launch fleets in Atlanta and Austin next year in partnership with ride-hailing leader Uber.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said his company plans to have autonomous Models Y and 3 running without human drivers next year. Robotaxis without steering wheels using Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” system would be available in 2026 starting in California and Texas, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration into Full Self-Driving’s ability to see in low visibility conditions cast doubt on whether Teslas are ready to be deployed without humans behind the wheel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency began the investigation in October after getting reports of four crashes involving “Full Self-Driving” when Teslas encountered sun glare, fog and airborne dust. An Arizona pedestrian was killed in one of the crashes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GM said it will work with Cruise’s leadership to restructure the company and refocus Cruise’s operations on driver assist systems. The company expects the restructuring to reduce spending by more than $1 billion annually.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cruise has about 2,300 employees and will retain a presence in San Francisco, GM said. It’s too early to talk about employment levels until the restructuring is completed next year, a spokesman said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dave Richardson, senior vice president of software and services engineering, said Cruise will bring its software, artificial intelligence and sensor development to GM to team up on improving GM’s driver-assist systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want to leverage what already has been done as we go forward, and we think we can do that very effectively,” Barra said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shares of GM rose about 3% in trading after Tuesday’s closing bell. They are up about 47% for the year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>AP Technology Writer Michael Liedtke in San Francisco contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>DETROIT — General Motors says it’s leaving the robotaxi business and will stop funding its money-losing Cruise autonomous vehicle unit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead the Detroit automaker announced Tuesday will focus on development of partially automated, hands-free “\u003ca href=\"https://www.gmc.com/connectivity-technology/super-cruise\" target=\"_blank\">Super Cruise\u003c/a>” system for personal vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GM said it would get out of robotaxis “given the considerable time and resources that would be needed to scale the business, along with an increasingly competitive robotaxi market.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company said it will combine Cruise’s technical team with its own to work on advanced systems to assist drivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GM bought control of San Francisco-based Cruise in 2016 with high hopes of developing a profitable fleet of robotaxis. The company’s white-and-orange Chevy Bolts became a familiar sight across the city — often as part of\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/robotaxi-backup-18293208.php\" target=\"_blank\"> self-created traffic tie-ups\u003c/a>. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the years GM invested billions in the subsidiary and eventually bought 90% of the company from investors, all while racking up millions in losses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GM’s departure from the autonomous taxi space represents a dramatic about-face from years of full-blown support that left a huge financial dent in the automaker. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company invested $2.4 billion in Cruise only to sustain years of uninterrupted losses, with little in return. Since GM bought a controlling stake in Cruise for $581 million in 2016, the robotaxi service piled up more than $10 billion in operating losses while bringing in less than $500 million in revenue, according to GM shareholder reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The automaker even announced plans for Cruise to generate $1 billion in annual revenue by 2025, but it scaled back spending on the company after one of its vehicles dragged a San Francisco pedestrian who was hit by another vehicle in 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Public Utilities Commission \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11965443/california-dmv-pumps-the-brakes-on-cruise-driverless-taxis-in-san-francisco\" target=\"_blank\">alleged Cruise covered up details\u003c/a> of the crash for more than two weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The embarrassing incident resulted in Cruise’s license to operate its driverless fleet in California being suspended by regulators and triggered a purge of its leadership — in addition to layoffs that jettisoned about a quarter of its workforce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GM CEO Mary Barra told analysts on a conference call Tuesday the revamped Cruise will focus on personal vehicles and developing systems that can drive by themselves in certain circumstances.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company has agreements to buy another 7% of Cruise and intends to buy the remaining shares so it owns the whole company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The move is another step back from autonomous vehicles, which have proved far harder to develop than companies once anticipated. Two years ago, crosstown rival Ford Motor Co. disbanded its Argo AI autonomous vehicle venture in Pittsburgh that it co-owned with Volkswagen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time the company said it didn’t see a path to profitability for a number of years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet other companies are pressing forward with plans to deploy autonomous vehicles and expand their services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo is accelerating plans to broaden its robotaxi service beyond areas of metropolitan Phoenix, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Last week the company said it would begin testing its driverless Jaguars in Miami next year, with plans to start charging for rides in 2026.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The move comes less than a month after Waymo opened up its robotaxi service to anyone looking for a ride in an 80-square-mile area of Los Angeles. Waymo also has plans to launch fleets in Atlanta and Austin next year in partnership with ride-hailing leader Uber.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said his company plans to have autonomous Models Y and 3 running without human drivers next year. Robotaxis without steering wheels using Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” system would be available in 2026 starting in California and Texas, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration into Full Self-Driving’s ability to see in low visibility conditions cast doubt on whether Teslas are ready to be deployed without humans behind the wheel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency began the investigation in October after getting reports of four crashes involving “Full Self-Driving” when Teslas encountered sun glare, fog and airborne dust. An Arizona pedestrian was killed in one of the crashes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GM said it will work with Cruise’s leadership to restructure the company and refocus Cruise’s operations on driver assist systems. The company expects the restructuring to reduce spending by more than $1 billion annually.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cruise has about 2,300 employees and will retain a presence in San Francisco, GM said. It’s too early to talk about employment levels until the restructuring is completed next year, a spokesman said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dave Richardson, senior vice president of software and services engineering, said Cruise will bring its software, artificial intelligence and sensor development to GM to team up on improving GM’s driver-assist systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want to leverage what already has been done as we go forward, and we think we can do that very effectively,” Barra said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shares of GM rose about 3% in trading after Tuesday’s closing bell. They are up about 47% for the year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>AP Technology Writer Michael Liedtke in San Francisco contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>San Franciscans have gotten fairly used to seeing driverless vehicles cruising in the lane next to them, but a viral video of a woman trapped in a Waymo by two men demanding her phone number is raising new concerns about passenger safety in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/autonomous-vehicles\">autonomous vehicles\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The woman, who identified herself as Amina V., posted the video of her frightening experience in the front passenger seat of a Waymo stalled on Mission Street after a man approached it at a red light.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Warning to women in SF,” she wrote Monday in a \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/Amina_io/status/1840759345354809414\">post on social media platform X\u003c/a> accompanying the minute-long video, which shows two men standing in front of the car and gesturing to her, requesting her phone number. Amina asks them to move repeatedly, saying, “Get out of the way” and “Please stop. You’re holding traffic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said via email that the whole exchange lasted a few minutes, during which a message appeared on the vehicle’s internal display that said something along the lines of “We will help you shortly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amina said Waymo’s team reached out to her numerous times during and following the incident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/Amina_io/status/1840759345354809414\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Waymo said in an email that “the trust and safety of our riders and community is our top priority, and we promptly connected with the rider to ensure their well-being.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In an instance like this, our riders have 24/7 access to Rider Support agents who will help them navigate the situation in real-time and coordinate closely with law enforcement officers to provide further assistance as needed,” Waymo said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company added that these situations are “exceedingly rare,” noting that it records about 100,000 rides a week in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amina’s experience is the second video of a San Francisco Waymo ride gone wrong to circulate in the past few weeks. Another video picked up by TikTok users \u003ca href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@2urbangirls/video/7418298419674008875?q=waymo%20grafitti&t=1727882742484\">shows a man and his dog\u003c/a> in a stalled Waymo as two people tag the vehicle with markers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amina said that before she started filming, one of the two men in her video approached the vehicle and stood in front of it while she was stopped at a red light. He left and returned with a second man, and the two of them demanded her number.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12001637 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/231214-CRUISE-MD-06_qed-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said she was “afraid more men would crowd around, which thankfully didn’t happen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the men moved, the car remained stalled, and Amina clicked an “in-car support” button.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They seemed to be aware of the issue. They asked if I was OK, and the car began to drive towards my location. They asked if I needed police support, and I said no,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When she was nearing her destination, the support team called again to ask her if she was OK. She said she was in a rush to get to her hair appointment, which she was now running late to because of the incident, but assured them that she was fine. They reached out again hours later and let her know she would receive at least one free ride.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amina said she is a fan of autonomous vehicles and might ride in one again despite the experience. She said she has anxiety about driving due to a serious car accident as a child and has been looking forward to this kind of technology for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How Waymo and other autonomous vehicle companies deal with “the human factor,” though, could be difficult, she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“On Waymo’s side of things — they can encourage the cars to avoid driving in the Tenderloin or certain areas of SOMA. Having lived in SF for a while, I know that certain areas have a higher amount of people running in the streets, which would probably increase incidents like this happening,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said she was “afraid more men would crowd around, which thankfully didn’t happen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the men moved, the car remained stalled, and Amina clicked an “in-car support” button.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They seemed to be aware of the issue. They asked if I was OK, and the car began to drive towards my location. They asked if I needed police support, and I said no,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When she was nearing her destination, the support team called again to ask her if she was OK. She said she was in a rush to get to her hair appointment, which she was now running late to because of the incident, but assured them that she was fine. They reached out again hours later and let her know she would receive at least one free ride.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amina said she is a fan of autonomous vehicles and might ride in one again despite the experience. She said she has anxiety about driving due to a serious car accident as a child and has been looking forward to this kind of technology for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How Waymo and other autonomous vehicle companies deal with “the human factor,” though, could be difficult, she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“On Waymo’s side of things — they can encourage the cars to avoid driving in the Tenderloin or certain areas of SOMA. Having lived in SF for a while, I know that certain areas have a higher amount of people running in the streets, which would probably increase incidents like this happening,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>As soon as next year, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/uber\">Uber\u003c/a> users in certain cities could have the option of summoning one of Cruise’s driverless Chevy Bolts, an announcement both companies made this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The feature won’t be available in San Francisco — where both companies are based — or anywhere else in California after the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11965443/california-dmv-pumps-the-brakes-on-cruise-driverless-taxis-in-san-francisco\">Department of Motor Vehicles pulled Cruise’s testing permits\u003c/a> last October because it found the vehicles were “not safe for the public’s operation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California DMV first granted Cruise the authority to test autonomous vehicles with safety drivers in 2015, and last August, the company was cleared by the California Public Utilities Commission \u003ca href=\"https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/news-and-media/dmv-authorizes-cruise-to-test-driverless-vehicles-in-san-francisco/\">to operate without a driver in San Francisco\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, in October, a pedestrian who had been hit by a human driver in San Francisco became pinned under the tire of a Cruise vehicle after it dragged the pedestrian as it came to a stop. Cruise, at the time, called it an “extremely rare event” but \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11965752/cruise-suspends-driverless-robotaxi-service-nationwide\">suspended testing its driverless vehicles\u003c/a> across the country shortly after.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company’s permits in California remain suspended indefinitely, according to the DMV. As of May, the agency said it had “provided Cruise with additional questions regarding the reinstatement of their permits.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tiffany Testo, a spokesperson for Cruise, told KQED that the first cities to have the driverless option on Uber would likely be where Cruise is currently conducting supervised testing with safety drivers: Phoenix, Dallas or Houston.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[aside postID=news_11993706 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/Waymo-1020x601.jpg']\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cruise resumed safety testing in those three cities in June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The partnership brings together two companies that have fallen behind in the race for autonomous robotaxis to Waymo, owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are excited to partner with Uber to bring the benefits of safe, reliable, autonomous driving to even more people, unlocking a new era of urban mobility,” Marc Whitten, CEO of Cruise, \u003ca href=\"https://www.getcruise.com/news/blog/2024/uber-and-cruise-to-deploy-autonomous-vehicles-on-the-uber-platform/\">said in a statement\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the joint statement, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi cited the company’s position as “the largest mobility and delivery platform.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this month, Cruise agreed to \u003ca href=\"https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/inv/2022/INCLA-PE22014-10746.pdf\">recall nearly 1,200 robotaxis\u003c/a>, ending an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board over unnecessarily hard braking. The NTSB says those issues have since been “remedied through software updates that are intended to reduce the risk of unexpected braking maneuvers, including by improvements to perception, prediction, and planning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cruise’s safety issues also centered on the vehicles’ behavior around pedestrians in roadways, including crosswalks, in some situations. The NTSB previously raised concerns that Cruise’s vehicles didn’t exercise the right amount of caution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#anchor\">\u003cem>This story was updated at 10:50 a.m. Friday, including a correction based on new information.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A Castro Valley woman is facing 17 felony counts of vandalism after she allegedly carried out a string of tire-slashing attacks on Waymo robotaxis at numerous locations across San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to separate accounts issued Thursday by the San Francisco Police Department and District Attorney’s Office, Ronaile Joshua Burton, 36, vandalized 20 different Waymo robotaxis and seven other vehicles from June 24 through June 26. Most of the attacks were captured by cameras on the autonomous vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Police said in a statement that Waymo reported the tire-slashing spree on the 26th and that investigators quickly determined that the same person and vehicle were involved in each incident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The suspect vehicle was an overdue rental car, police said, and was discovered on Bryant Street near the Embarcadero, in the city’s South Beach neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When a tow truck arrived to retrieve the car for the rental company, Burton allegedly slashed the tires of both the car and tow truck, and smashed the windows of both vehicles. According to police, Burton then slashed the tires of five occupied vehicles along the Embarcadero.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Burton was initially arrested June 26 in connection with the South Beach incident and the first three Waymo attacks. She was released two days later without being required to post bail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Burton was arrested again on July 3, police said, after they tied the suspect to 17 more of the Waymo tire slashings in the Tenderloin, South of Market, Fillmore, Lower Haight and Sunset neighborhoods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Burton pleaded not guilty in San Francisco Superior Court on Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A judge granted prosecutors’ request to keep her in custody as a potential public safety risk, and her next court appearance is set for Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Burton’s public defender said they “intend to aggressively fight these charges.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ms. Burton is someone in need of help and not jail, which is why our social workers are actively working to identify and secure appropriate services, as we continue to advocate for her release from jail,” Deputy Public Defender Adam Birka-White said in a statement. “The District Attorney continues to prioritize punishing poor people at the behest of corporations, in this case involving a tech company that is \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11986059/federal-safety-agency-investigating-waymos-autonomous-taxis\">under federal investigation\u003c/a> for creating dangerous conditions on our streets.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins thanked police investigators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The destruction of other people’s property will not go unaddressed in San Francisco,” Jenkins said. “People who vandalize property must be held accountable for their actions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In its response to the charges, Waymo said passengers were aboard some of the vehicles targeted in June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Waymo is also taking steps to recover the damages sustained, and mitigate the potential for future events,” a company spokesperson said in a statement. “… We appreciate the efforts of SFPD and others involved for their work in finding the perpetrator and helping to keep our community safe.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Autonomous taxis in San Francisco have been occasional targets for protests and occasional vandalism since state regulators gave permission last year for the services to operate 24/7 throughout the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Concerns about the safety of the autonomous vehicles and their sometimes unpredictable behavior — wandering into emergency response scenes and construction sites, for instance — came to a head last fall when a Cruise vehicle ran over and dragged a pedestrian who had been struck by a human driver in downtown San Francisco. Cruise subsequently lost its state-issued operating permits after allegedly misleading regulators about the severity of the crash.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In one largely non-destructive \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11959303/sf-activists-protest-immobilize-driverless-cars-with-traffic-cones\">episode of monkeywrenching\u003c/a> last year, traffic safety activists disabled many of the robotaxis by placing traffic cones on their hoods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/SafeStreetRebel/status/1696176176673202459\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a high-profile incident this year, a crowd vandalized and set fire to a Waymo vehicle in Chinatown after the vehicle stopped in the middle of a crowded street during Chinese New Year’s festivities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca id=\"anchor\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>July 12 Editor’s Note: The original version of this story referred to Ronaile Burton as a man, based on information from the district attorney. It was updated after the public defender’s office said Burton uses she/her pronouns.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#anchor\">\u003cem>This story was updated at 10:50 a.m. Friday, including a correction based on new information.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A Castro Valley woman is facing 17 felony counts of vandalism after she allegedly carried out a string of tire-slashing attacks on Waymo robotaxis at numerous locations across San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to separate accounts issued Thursday by the San Francisco Police Department and District Attorney’s Office, Ronaile Joshua Burton, 36, vandalized 20 different Waymo robotaxis and seven other vehicles from June 24 through June 26. Most of the attacks were captured by cameras on the autonomous vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Police said in a statement that Waymo reported the tire-slashing spree on the 26th and that investigators quickly determined that the same person and vehicle were involved in each incident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The suspect vehicle was an overdue rental car, police said, and was discovered on Bryant Street near the Embarcadero, in the city’s South Beach neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When a tow truck arrived to retrieve the car for the rental company, Burton allegedly slashed the tires of both the car and tow truck, and smashed the windows of both vehicles. According to police, Burton then slashed the tires of five occupied vehicles along the Embarcadero.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Burton was initially arrested June 26 in connection with the South Beach incident and the first three Waymo attacks. She was released two days later without being required to post bail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Burton was arrested again on July 3, police said, after they tied the suspect to 17 more of the Waymo tire slashings in the Tenderloin, South of Market, Fillmore, Lower Haight and Sunset neighborhoods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Burton pleaded not guilty in San Francisco Superior Court on Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A judge granted prosecutors’ request to keep her in custody as a potential public safety risk, and her next court appearance is set for Friday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Burton’s public defender said they “intend to aggressively fight these charges.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ms. Burton is someone in need of help and not jail, which is why our social workers are actively working to identify and secure appropriate services, as we continue to advocate for her release from jail,” Deputy Public Defender Adam Birka-White said in a statement. “The District Attorney continues to prioritize punishing poor people at the behest of corporations, in this case involving a tech company that is \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11986059/federal-safety-agency-investigating-waymos-autonomous-taxis\">under federal investigation\u003c/a> for creating dangerous conditions on our streets.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins thanked police investigators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The destruction of other people’s property will not go unaddressed in San Francisco,” Jenkins said. “People who vandalize property must be held accountable for their actions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In its response to the charges, Waymo said passengers were aboard some of the vehicles targeted in June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Waymo is also taking steps to recover the damages sustained, and mitigate the potential for future events,” a company spokesperson said in a statement. “… We appreciate the efforts of SFPD and others involved for their work in finding the perpetrator and helping to keep our community safe.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Autonomous taxis in San Francisco have been occasional targets for protests and occasional vandalism since state regulators gave permission last year for the services to operate 24/7 throughout the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Concerns about the safety of the autonomous vehicles and their sometimes unpredictable behavior — wandering into emergency response scenes and construction sites, for instance — came to a head last fall when a Cruise vehicle ran over and dragged a pedestrian who had been struck by a human driver in downtown San Francisco. Cruise subsequently lost its state-issued operating permits after allegedly misleading regulators about the severity of the crash.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In one largely non-destructive \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11959303/sf-activists-protest-immobilize-driverless-cars-with-traffic-cones\">episode of monkeywrenching\u003c/a> last year, traffic safety activists disabled many of the robotaxis by placing traffic cones on their hoods.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>In a high-profile incident this year, a crowd vandalized and set fire to a Waymo vehicle in Chinatown after the vehicle stopped in the middle of a crowded street during Chinese New Year’s festivities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca id=\"anchor\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>July 12 Editor’s Note: The original version of this story referred to Ronaile Burton as a man, based on information from the district attorney. It was updated after the public defender’s office said Burton uses she/her pronouns.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Federal Safety Agency Investigating Waymo's Autonomous Taxis",
"headTitle": "Federal Safety Agency Investigating Waymo’s Autonomous Taxis | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>The U.S. government’s highway safety agency has opened another investigation of automated driving systems, this time into crashes involving Waymo’s self-driving vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration posted \u003ca href=\"https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/24662325/732396413-inoa-pe24016-12382.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">documents\u003c/a> detailing the probe on its website early Tuesday after receiving 22 reports of Waymo vehicles either crashing or doing something that may have violated traffic laws.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the past month, the agency has opened at least four investigations of vehicles that can either drive themselves or take on at least some driving functions, as it appears to be getting more aggressive in regulating the devices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the probe of Waymo, which was once Google’s self-driving vehicle unit, the agency said it has reports of 17 crashes and five other reports of possible traffic law violations. No injuries were reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the crashes, the Waymo vehicles hit stationary objects such as gates, chains or parked vehicles. Some of the incidents happened shortly after the Waymo driving system behaved unexpectedly near traffic control devices, according to the documents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Waymo said in a statement that the NHTSA plays an important role in road safety and that it will continue working with the agency “as part of our mission to become the world’s most trusted driver.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company said it makes over 50,000 weekly trips with riders in challenging environments. “We are proud of our performance and safety record over tens of millions of autonomous miles driven, as well as our demonstrated commitment to safety transparency,” the statement said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Waymo, based in Mountain View, has been operating around the clock throughout San Francisco since last summer under permits issued by the California Public Utilities Commission and Department of Motor Vehicles. The DMV has permitted the company to operate in 22 Peninsula and Silicon Valley cities and throughout Los Angeles and bordering communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michael Brooks, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety, said NHTSA’s more aggressive actions show that autonomous vehicles may not be ready for public roads yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"more on autonomous vehicles\" tag=\"waymo\"]The agency’s only enforcement power on autonomous vehicles, at present, is to open investigations and seek recalls, which it is doing, Brooks said. NHTSA has been criticized in the past for being slow to regulate Tesla and other companies that offer automated driving systems, but Brooks said things appear to have changed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ultimately, I think it’s a good thing here that they’re taking these steps, trying to figure out why these vehicles are acting the way they are,” Brooks said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NHTSA said it would investigate the 22 incidents involving Waymo’s fifth-generation driving system plus similar scenarios “to more closely assess any commonalities in these incidents.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency said it understands that Waymo’s automated driving system was engaged throughout each incident, or in some cases involving a test vehicle, a human driver disengaged the system just before an accident happened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The probe will evaluate the system’s performance in detecting and responding to traffic control devices and in avoiding crashes with stationary and semi-stationary objects and vehicles, the documents said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since late April, NHTSA has opened investigations into collisions involving self-driving vehicles run by Amazon-owned Zoox, as well as partially automated driver-assist systems offered by Tesla and Ford.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2021, the agency ordered all companies with self-driving vehicles or partially automated systems to report all crashes to the government. The probes rely heavily on data reported by the automakers under that order.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NHTSA is also investigating General Motors’ Cruise autonomous vehicle unit after receiving reports that the vehicles may not have used proper caution around pedestrians. The DMV and CPUC \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11965443/california-dmv-pumps-the-brakes-on-cruise-driverless-taxis-in-san-francisco\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">suspended Cruise’s operating permits\u003c/a> last October after an incident in downtown San Francisco in which one of the company’s vehicles struck and dragged a pedestrian.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Ford investigation, the agency is looking into two nighttime crashes on freeways that killed three people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NHTSA has also questioned whether a recall of Tesla’s Autopilot driver-assist system last year was effective enough to ensure human drivers were paying attention. NHTSA said it ultimately found 467 crashes involving Autopilot, resulting in 54 injuries and 14 deaths.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency also pressured Tesla to recall its “Full Self Driving” system last year because it can misbehave around intersections and doesn’t always follow speed limits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite their names, neither Tesla’s Autopilot nor its “Full Self Driving” systems can drive vehicles themselves, and the company said human drivers must be ready to intervene at all times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition, NHTSA has moved to set performance standards for automatic emergency braking systems, requiring them to brake quickly to avoid pedestrians and other vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The standards come after other investigations involving automatic braking systems from Tesla, Honda and Fisker because they can brake for no reason, increasing the risk of a crash.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a 2022 interview, then-NHTSA Administrator Steven Cliff said the agency would step up scrutiny of automated vehicles, and the agency has recently taken more action. NHTSA has been without a Senate-confirmed administrator since Cliff left for the California Air Resources Board in August 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The U.S. government’s highway safety agency has opened another investigation of automated driving systems, this time into crashes involving Waymo’s self-driving vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration posted \u003ca href=\"https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/24662325/732396413-inoa-pe24016-12382.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">documents\u003c/a> detailing the probe on its website early Tuesday after receiving 22 reports of Waymo vehicles either crashing or doing something that may have violated traffic laws.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the past month, the agency has opened at least four investigations of vehicles that can either drive themselves or take on at least some driving functions, as it appears to be getting more aggressive in regulating the devices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the probe of Waymo, which was once Google’s self-driving vehicle unit, the agency said it has reports of 17 crashes and five other reports of possible traffic law violations. No injuries were reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the crashes, the Waymo vehicles hit stationary objects such as gates, chains or parked vehicles. Some of the incidents happened shortly after the Waymo driving system behaved unexpectedly near traffic control devices, according to the documents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Waymo said in a statement that the NHTSA plays an important role in road safety and that it will continue working with the agency “as part of our mission to become the world’s most trusted driver.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company said it makes over 50,000 weekly trips with riders in challenging environments. “We are proud of our performance and safety record over tens of millions of autonomous miles driven, as well as our demonstrated commitment to safety transparency,” the statement said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Waymo, based in Mountain View, has been operating around the clock throughout San Francisco since last summer under permits issued by the California Public Utilities Commission and Department of Motor Vehicles. The DMV has permitted the company to operate in 22 Peninsula and Silicon Valley cities and throughout Los Angeles and bordering communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michael Brooks, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety, said NHTSA’s more aggressive actions show that autonomous vehicles may not be ready for public roads yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The agency’s only enforcement power on autonomous vehicles, at present, is to open investigations and seek recalls, which it is doing, Brooks said. NHTSA has been criticized in the past for being slow to regulate Tesla and other companies that offer automated driving systems, but Brooks said things appear to have changed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ultimately, I think it’s a good thing here that they’re taking these steps, trying to figure out why these vehicles are acting the way they are,” Brooks said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NHTSA said it would investigate the 22 incidents involving Waymo’s fifth-generation driving system plus similar scenarios “to more closely assess any commonalities in these incidents.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency said it understands that Waymo’s automated driving system was engaged throughout each incident, or in some cases involving a test vehicle, a human driver disengaged the system just before an accident happened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The probe will evaluate the system’s performance in detecting and responding to traffic control devices and in avoiding crashes with stationary and semi-stationary objects and vehicles, the documents said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since late April, NHTSA has opened investigations into collisions involving self-driving vehicles run by Amazon-owned Zoox, as well as partially automated driver-assist systems offered by Tesla and Ford.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2021, the agency ordered all companies with self-driving vehicles or partially automated systems to report all crashes to the government. The probes rely heavily on data reported by the automakers under that order.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NHTSA is also investigating General Motors’ Cruise autonomous vehicle unit after receiving reports that the vehicles may not have used proper caution around pedestrians. The DMV and CPUC \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11965443/california-dmv-pumps-the-brakes-on-cruise-driverless-taxis-in-san-francisco\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">suspended Cruise’s operating permits\u003c/a> last October after an incident in downtown San Francisco in which one of the company’s vehicles struck and dragged a pedestrian.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Ford investigation, the agency is looking into two nighttime crashes on freeways that killed three people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NHTSA has also questioned whether a recall of Tesla’s Autopilot driver-assist system last year was effective enough to ensure human drivers were paying attention. NHTSA said it ultimately found 467 crashes involving Autopilot, resulting in 54 injuries and 14 deaths.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The agency also pressured Tesla to recall its “Full Self Driving” system last year because it can misbehave around intersections and doesn’t always follow speed limits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite their names, neither Tesla’s Autopilot nor its “Full Self Driving” systems can drive vehicles themselves, and the company said human drivers must be ready to intervene at all times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition, NHTSA has moved to set performance standards for automatic emergency braking systems, requiring them to brake quickly to avoid pedestrians and other vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The standards come after other investigations involving automatic braking systems from Tesla, Honda and Fisker because they can brake for no reason, increasing the risk of a crash.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a 2022 interview, then-NHTSA Administrator Steven Cliff said the agency would step up scrutiny of automated vehicles, and the agency has recently taken more action. NHTSA has been without a Senate-confirmed administrator since Cliff left for the California Air Resources Board in August 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>General Motors’ Cruise autonomous vehicle unit has agreed to cut its \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/driverless-cars-robotaxis-waymo-cruise-tesla-684556379bb57425c8fdf35268e8046d\">fleet of San Francisco robotaxis\u003c/a> in half as authorities investigate two recent crashes in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state Department of Motor Vehicles asked for the reduction after a Cruise vehicle without a human driver collided with an unspecified emergency vehicle on Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The DMV is investigating recent concerning incidents involving Cruise vehicles in San Francisco,” the DMV said Saturday in a statement to The Associated Press. “Cruise has agreed to a 50% reduction and will have no more than 50 driverless vehicles in operation during the day and 150 driverless vehicles in operation at night.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The development comes just over a week after \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11957833/are-you-ready-for-more-driverless-taxis-cpuc-votes-on-whether-to-let-cruise-waymo-expand-in-sf\">California regulators allowed Cruise and Google spinoff Waymo to operate autonomous robotaxis throughout San Francisco\u003c/a> at all hours, despite safety worries spurred by recurring problems with unexpected stops and other erratic behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/robotaxis-cruise-waymo-san-francisco-artificial-intelligence-98f0dab03984bd71685b92c2ac7aad0c\">decision Aug. 10 by the Public Utilities Commission\u003c/a> made San Francisco the first major U.S. city with two fleets of driverless vehicles competing for passengers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Thursday around 10 p.m., the Cruise vehicle had a green light, entered an intersection, and was hit by the emergency vehicle responding to a call, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/cruise-driverless-san-francisco-crash-18302845.php\">the \u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em> reported,\u003c/a> based on tweets from Cruise.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"California Department of Motor Vehicles\"]‘Cruise has agreed to a 50% reduction and will have no more than 50 driverless vehicles in operation during the day and 150 driverless vehicles in operation at night.’[/pullquote]The robotaxi was carrying a passenger, who was taken by ambulance to a hospital with injuries that were not severe, Cruise told the newspaper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also Thursday night, a Cruise car without a passenger collided with another vehicle in San Francisco, the newspaper reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Fire Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the newspaper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The robotaxi almost immediately identified the emergency response vehicle as it came into view, Greg Dieterich, Cruise’s general manager in San Francisco, said in a statement \u003ca href=\"https://getcruise.com/news/blog/2023/further-update-on-emergency-vehicle-collision/\">on the company website\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the intersection, visibility is occluded by buildings, and it’s not possible to see objects around a corner until they are very close to the intersection, Dieterich’s statement said. The Cruise autonomous vehicle detected the siren as soon it was distinguishable from background noise, he wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The AV’s ability to successfully chart the emergency vehicle’s path was complicated by the fact that the emergency vehicle was in the oncoming lane of traffic, which it had moved into to bypass the red light,” Dieterich wrote.[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"news_11957833,forum_2010101893895\"]The Cruise vehicle identified the risk of a crash and braked, reducing its speed, but couldn’t avoid the collision, he wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cruise vehicles have driven more than 3 million autonomous miles in the city and have interacted with emergency vehicles more than 168,000 times in the first seven months of this year alone, the statement said. “We realize that we’ll always encounter challenging situations, which is why continuous improvement is central to our work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company will work with regulators and city departments to reduce the likelihood of a crash happening again, Dieterich wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The DMV said the fleet reduction will remain until its investigation ends and Cruise takes corrective action to improve safety. “The DMV reserves the right, following investigation of the facts, to suspend or revoke testing and/or deployment permits if there is determined to be an unreasonable risk to public safety.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>General Motors’ Cruise autonomous vehicle unit has agreed to cut its \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/driverless-cars-robotaxis-waymo-cruise-tesla-684556379bb57425c8fdf35268e8046d\">fleet of San Francisco robotaxis\u003c/a> in half as authorities investigate two recent crashes in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state Department of Motor Vehicles asked for the reduction after a Cruise vehicle without a human driver collided with an unspecified emergency vehicle on Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The DMV is investigating recent concerning incidents involving Cruise vehicles in San Francisco,” the DMV said Saturday in a statement to The Associated Press. “Cruise has agreed to a 50% reduction and will have no more than 50 driverless vehicles in operation during the day and 150 driverless vehicles in operation at night.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The development comes just over a week after \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11957833/are-you-ready-for-more-driverless-taxis-cpuc-votes-on-whether-to-let-cruise-waymo-expand-in-sf\">California regulators allowed Cruise and Google spinoff Waymo to operate autonomous robotaxis throughout San Francisco\u003c/a> at all hours, despite safety worries spurred by recurring problems with unexpected stops and other erratic behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/robotaxis-cruise-waymo-san-francisco-artificial-intelligence-98f0dab03984bd71685b92c2ac7aad0c\">decision Aug. 10 by the Public Utilities Commission\u003c/a> made San Francisco the first major U.S. city with two fleets of driverless vehicles competing for passengers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Thursday around 10 p.m., the Cruise vehicle had a green light, entered an intersection, and was hit by the emergency vehicle responding to a call, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/cruise-driverless-san-francisco-crash-18302845.php\">the \u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em> reported,\u003c/a> based on tweets from Cruise.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The robotaxi was carrying a passenger, who was taken by ambulance to a hospital with injuries that were not severe, Cruise told the newspaper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also Thursday night, a Cruise car without a passenger collided with another vehicle in San Francisco, the newspaper reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Fire Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the newspaper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The robotaxi almost immediately identified the emergency response vehicle as it came into view, Greg Dieterich, Cruise’s general manager in San Francisco, said in a statement \u003ca href=\"https://getcruise.com/news/blog/2023/further-update-on-emergency-vehicle-collision/\">on the company website\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the intersection, visibility is occluded by buildings, and it’s not possible to see objects around a corner until they are very close to the intersection, Dieterich’s statement said. The Cruise autonomous vehicle detected the siren as soon it was distinguishable from background noise, he wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The AV’s ability to successfully chart the emergency vehicle’s path was complicated by the fact that the emergency vehicle was in the oncoming lane of traffic, which it had moved into to bypass the red light,” Dieterich wrote.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The Cruise vehicle identified the risk of a crash and braked, reducing its speed, but couldn’t avoid the collision, he wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cruise vehicles have driven more than 3 million autonomous miles in the city and have interacted with emergency vehicles more than 168,000 times in the first seven months of this year alone, the statement said. “We realize that we’ll always encounter challenging situations, which is why continuous improvement is central to our work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company will work with regulators and city departments to reduce the likelihood of a crash happening again, Dieterich wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The DMV said the fleet reduction will remain until its investigation ends and Cruise takes corrective action to improve safety. “The DMV reserves the right, following investigation of the facts, to suspend or revoke testing and/or deployment permits if there is determined to be an unreasonable risk to public safety.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Get Ready For More Robotaxis in S.F.",
"headTitle": "Get Ready For More Robotaxis in S.F. | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">View the full episode transcript.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This episode contains explicit language.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Franciscans can expect to see more driverless cars on the road after California regulators approved a permit to allow Waymo and Cruise to charge fares.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once again, the city is the testing ground for new technology. And people on both sides have strong feelings about it. Ida Mojadad from the San Francisco Standard breaks it all down for us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC7090345903\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra, And welcome to The Bay. Local news to keep you rooted. Over the weekend, some self-driving cars, a.k.a. autonomous vehicles, a.k.a. robo taxis, got themselves into another little pickle in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Unidentified: \u003c/strong>What the f•ck They’re–\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Several of these self-driving cars were just chillin in the middle of the road. Blinkers on blocking all kinds of traffic, apparently because of connectivity issues caused by the Outside Lands Music Festival. And the thing is, people have feelings about whether these self-driving cars are safer than human drivers. And whatever happens, there’s no doubt that we’re going to continue hearing about these things because California regulators just gave the go ahead for companies to put an unlimited number of these robo taxis on the roads in San Francisco. Today, the debate over self-driving cars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong> So, I pass by a cruise fleet every single day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Ida Mojadad: is a reporter for the San Francisco Standard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>I see it on my way home. On the way to work. Everywhere in between. They’re everywhere, really. But it’s still just a very weird sight, even though they’ve been pretty dominant on the streets this whole year. It’s still new and weird.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>I think I probably fall in that weirded out bucket. But I mean, how long have people been talking about these robo taxis? How long have they been like, I guess, driving around San Francisco at this point?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>So the two that are in San Francisco, Cruise and Waymo have been able to operate and test driverless in the city since about last summer, but they have been really noticeable this whole year, especially in the spring. As you know, certain conflicts have emerged and more people have been able to take them. They have a waitlist for them, but they have tested trusted passengers. So as more people have been able to take them and and there’s just been more run ins with them, they’ve been really noticeable this whole year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>And you mentioned Cruise and Waymo, these two big companies behind these driverless vehicles. Can you tell me about those companies? I know I know this idea has been a techie dream for a while.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>Sure. So Cruise is owned by General Motors and Waymo is run by Google’s parent company known as Alphabet. A lot of companies have invested in this technology. Billions have been poured into it, but these are the two that are currently in San Francisco and now able to carry people without a driver.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>I mean, what is with these companies obsession with driverless cars? Like why are they putting so much effort into expanding these fleets?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>I think essentially they see it’s the way of the future. They are very enthusiastic about how transformative it can be for people. Their frequent, you know, arguments for it is that it can provide safer streets because they they say that they drive safer than humans and that they have an electric fleet. So it will help reduce emissions. But essentially, they see it as being the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>News anchor: \u003c/strong>We see San Francisco as a litmus test for the commercialization of Robotaxis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>News anchor: is the CEO of Cruise and he’s been pretty vocal and active about his company and shared excitement to to expand not just in San Francisco but cities across the country and to do a quick and aggressively.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>News anchor: \u003c/strong>You know, the rate of expansion has been pretty impressive. And this is not because we’re going just just going wild here. It’s actually because the system itself is improving so quickly. And so even just a couple of weeks ago on the GM earnings call, I said we were at about 10,000 rides per week. This last week it was 15,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>A lot of people have been talking about these driverless cars. They’ve been on the roads in San Francisco. What have they been allowed to do up until now?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>So Waymo has been able to drive around with these cars for all hours of the day. And Cruise has been able to do during certain hours, mostly at night. But both of them essentially have not been able to charge people without a safety driver present. And that was the biggest hurdle to, you know, expanding their their business operations, essentially. Prior to the vote, Waymo had 250 vehicles in the city with about 100 in operation. Crews has about 400 with 300 operating at night as of last week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Well, I know a really important commission just made a huge decision about expanding these fleets in San Francisco. Can you remind us what the you see is and what was that meeting about exactly?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>The California Public Utilities Commission is, in this case tasked with weighing passenger safety in these autonomous vehicles known as robo taxis. And they already approved these, you know, initial permits that allow them to operate on the streets. And now they have just made a big decision to let them operate and charge people, saying that they met the requirements that were asked of them in the first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>I know that there were people who are both for and against these robotaxis at this California Public Utilities Commission meeting. I know these companies, of course, are huge proponents of these, but who else was coming out in favor of robo taxis?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>So some big supporters are some street safety advocates, but also a lot of groups that advocate for blind people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Activist: \u003c/strong>As a blind woman, I am here fully to support autonomous technology.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>They seem to be very enthusiastic about it. They have already been, you know, in talks with these companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Activist: \u003c/strong>Not only has being a Waymo tested rider provided me with a level of independence that I have never been able to experience before. It has provided me with a feeling of safety that I’ve never had before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>Not all disability advocates agree, but they seem to be the most enthusiastic about this. And then there’s also a union, SEIU, that was also in favor of this, because they have been assured by one of the companies that they will be union jobs and their members need jobs right now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>SEIU Spokesperson \u003c/strong>We already represent workers within cruise spaces. Cruise is one of the few tech companies in San Francisco that is celebrating the fact that they want to stay in San Francisco and operate in San Francisco. And right now, we need to be able to celebrate those opportunities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>There’s also this group Safer Roads for All, which is actually affiliated with the companies. What? What’s their deal? Who are they?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>They are more of a campaign that brings together tech industry groups. But Waymo is a the only actual company behind that. So these tech industry groups are advocating to let this technology move on. And, you know, the groups behind these have, you know, been advocating for anything from just general tech industry things to specifically autonomous vehicles. But essentially, they are tech groups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>How would you maybe summarize what it is that people like about these robo taxis?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>In essence, I think it’s the convenience of being able to get from point A to point B.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>News anchor: \u003c/strong>Autonomous vehicles represent a route to safer roads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>Without driving themselves, without dealing with parking and without having a person in the vehicle. Maybe there’s more privacy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Advocate: \u003c/strong>As a woman who frequently needs to take rideshare or public transportation on a regular basis, and especially during evening hours, I feel much safer knowing that I’m writing, in a judgment free discrimination, free beer free vehicle rather than one that you nervously navigate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>There’s a novelty. And until last week, they had to be free when there was no driver.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>News anchor: \u003c/strong>I encourage the panel to please embrace this technology that our city and region have long been renowned for. Thank you for your time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>So, I mean, there’s been a lot of excitement I know, around these, but there have also been some really strong feelings about them, too. Who is coming out against these robo taxis?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>The most vocal opponents of a large expansion of these vehicles are essentially human drivers, those who drive Uber and Lyft and taxi cabs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Driver: \u003c/strong>[SPANISH]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Translator: \u003c/strong>I’m raising five children, if the driverless cars expand, they’re going to take away the work from us. And I have.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>As well as some disability advocates who feel like this really just isn’t ready for them. People with more like physical disabilities, they’re in a wheelchair.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Activist: \u003c/strong>It’s an issue that we we don’t yet have an agreement on what accessibility looks like. How do folks like myself who are full time wheelchair users enter and use and exit these vehicles safely?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>City officials from departments of for first responders, transportation agencies and you know Mayor London breed the Board of supervisors President Aaron Peskin are really not for an immediate big expansion. They’re urging more of an incremental approach, but there’s also not a lot that they can do to to stop that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>And I know there’s also a lot of safety concerns from firefighters and also police and also first responders. Can you describe some of those incidents for us?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>News anchor: \u003c/strong>Now to an autonomous car that got stuck for hours today on San Francisco Street. This is the latest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>So the fire department has tallied over 50 incidents this year where they have been blocked from doing their job because one of these vehicles, you know, stopped, maybe has overreacted and just didn’t want to run into anything. It’s hard to say exactly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>News anchor: : \u003c/strong>Firefighters describe driverless cars rolling into fire scenes, running over hoses, even having to break windshields to stop a vehicle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>It’s meant that sometimes these firefighters, while they’re, you know, trying to respond to a fire, are stuck babysitting a robotaxi for a roughly half an hour, which is not what the robotaxi companies themselves say happens. But it’s it’s been noticeable enough to interfere with their jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Jeanine Nicholson: \u003c/strong>I’m not it’s high technology. What I am is part of safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>The San Francisco Fire Department chief is Jeanine Nicholson, and she has been pretty vocal that it’s not their job to babysit these cars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Jeanine Nicholson: \u003c/strong>Every second can make the difference if you are blocked by an autonomous vehicle. A fire will double in size. And even if that could lead to more and to the people in that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>It is the job of these companies to stay out of their way and train their cars to stay out of their way, and that the training that first responders have received so far from the companies they say doesn’t match what’s actually happening on the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Jeanine Nicholson: \u003c/strong>But what would have really helped would have been a two way conversation seven years ago. It’s been a one way conversation up until very recently.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>And ultimately, she feels that the transparency has been lacking, the collaboration has been lacking, and that it just overall needs to stop interfering with doing the business of saving lives and people’s homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Jeanine Nicholson: \u003c/strong>It’s the unpredictability, the obstructions and the lack of working with us is really that it is really a problem. They are still not ready for prime time because of how they have impacted our operations. And and, you know.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>And I feel like I also have to ask you about the cones that are being put on these robo taxis sort of as a form of protest. What are those about?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>So over the summer, it was another noticeable aspect of these cars is that it has been that there’s been some activists who were placing cones on them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>News anchor: : \u003c/strong>Marking autonomous vehicles as traffic hazards. The group Safe Street Rebels is placing cones on cruise and Waymo cars as a way to temporarily stop that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>You know, would basically make them not go anywhere and have to be retrieved by the companies. You know, there’s even been some like reports that a firefighter has done that to to to prevent them from interfering further. But the city does not condone it. And it’s it’s just the most visible sign of resistance to this technology and some of the havoc that people say it’s been bringing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>In terms of what’s next. I do want to ask you about the commission vote. I know they ultimately approved this new permit for robo taxis. Can you explain how they came to that vote?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>So Commissioner Genevieve Sharma was one of the four commissioners who was urging caution, saying they’re not ready for prime time as well, and that they just need more time to really understand the data to from these companies and from the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Unidentified: \u003c/strong>Because of this insufficient record. I believe it is premature to vote to approve these resolutions today. Instead, the resolution should be held or withdrawn so that crews and Waymo have the additional time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>The other three commissioners voted in favor for saying that they met the requirements that were asked of them, that they can always add more restrictions later. And one of the commissioners, Commissioner John Reynolds, was a little bit more enthusiastic about them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>John Reynolds \u003c/strong>Today is the first of many steps in bringing transportation services to Californians and setting a successful and transparent model for other states to follow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>He actually used to be general counsel for Cruise, but didn’t have to recuse himself because enough time had passed. Commissioner Reynolds said that, you know, he’s able to advocate for both, you know, the people of California and can see what this technology does, essentially.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Unidentified: \u003c/strong>Commissioner John Reynolds. Yes. Mr. Houck? Yes. Commissioner Sherman. No as. Alice Reynolds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Advocate: \u003c/strong>Yes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Unknown: \u003c/strong>The vote is three one, tthe item passes. All right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>I will now. Well, you mentioned this means there’s going to be a huge expansion of these fleets in San Francisco. But I mean, I definitely have not seen one of these robot taxis where I live in Vallejo. But, I mean, with this vote, does that mean that we could see them possibly expand to other cities?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>This vote is specific to San Francisco, but there are many other companies that are doing testing in the Bay Area, both on the peninsula and other places. So people in Nevada Bay Area will probably see these around as more companies continue to test and seek more approvals. Waymo and Cruise are going to be more dominant in the city itself, but everyone’s going to be seeing them more in the future, that’s for sure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Well, I mean, I that this for some reason feels like such a San Francisco story. What do you think this debate says about where San Francisco is at right now?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>Well, San Francisco is kind of once again the testing ground for a lot of this emerging technology. We saw with Uber and Lyft. That was our biggest example. And this time, city officials are really not wanting to be the guinea pigs. But for other people, it’s really exciting to be the first ones to do this and to see this, you know, get the first access to a glimpse into the future, a little bit of the Jetsons people compared to. So there’s kind of this split and excitement and trepidation about where this leaves the city. But once again, the city is seeing it before many others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Well, Ida, thank you so much for joining us on the show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>Thank you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>That was Ida Mojadad, a reporter for the San Francisco Standard. This 28 minute conversation with Ida was cut down and edited by producer Maria Esquinca. It was pitched by senior editor Alan Motecillo, who added all the tape. This episode was scored by me. I’m Ericka Cruz Guevara. The Bay is a production of member supported KQED in San Francisco. Thank you so much for listening to next time.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">View the full episode transcript.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This episode contains explicit language.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Franciscans can expect to see more driverless cars on the road after California regulators approved a permit to allow Waymo and Cruise to charge fares.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once again, the city is the testing ground for new technology. And people on both sides have strong feelings about it. Ida Mojadad from the San Francisco Standard breaks it all down for us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC7090345903\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-content post-body\">\u003ch2 id=\"episode-transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra, And welcome to The Bay. Local news to keep you rooted. Over the weekend, some self-driving cars, a.k.a. autonomous vehicles, a.k.a. robo taxis, got themselves into another little pickle in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Unidentified: \u003c/strong>What the f•ck They’re–\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Several of these self-driving cars were just chillin in the middle of the road. Blinkers on blocking all kinds of traffic, apparently because of connectivity issues caused by the Outside Lands Music Festival. And the thing is, people have feelings about whether these self-driving cars are safer than human drivers. And whatever happens, there’s no doubt that we’re going to continue hearing about these things because California regulators just gave the go ahead for companies to put an unlimited number of these robo taxis on the roads in San Francisco. Today, the debate over self-driving cars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong> So, I pass by a cruise fleet every single day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Ida Mojadad: is a reporter for the San Francisco Standard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>I see it on my way home. On the way to work. Everywhere in between. They’re everywhere, really. But it’s still just a very weird sight, even though they’ve been pretty dominant on the streets this whole year. It’s still new and weird.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>I think I probably fall in that weirded out bucket. But I mean, how long have people been talking about these robo taxis? How long have they been like, I guess, driving around San Francisco at this point?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>So the two that are in San Francisco, Cruise and Waymo have been able to operate and test driverless in the city since about last summer, but they have been really noticeable this whole year, especially in the spring. As you know, certain conflicts have emerged and more people have been able to take them. They have a waitlist for them, but they have tested trusted passengers. So as more people have been able to take them and and there’s just been more run ins with them, they’ve been really noticeable this whole year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>And you mentioned Cruise and Waymo, these two big companies behind these driverless vehicles. Can you tell me about those companies? I know I know this idea has been a techie dream for a while.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>Sure. So Cruise is owned by General Motors and Waymo is run by Google’s parent company known as Alphabet. A lot of companies have invested in this technology. Billions have been poured into it, but these are the two that are currently in San Francisco and now able to carry people without a driver.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>I mean, what is with these companies obsession with driverless cars? Like why are they putting so much effort into expanding these fleets?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>I think essentially they see it’s the way of the future. They are very enthusiastic about how transformative it can be for people. Their frequent, you know, arguments for it is that it can provide safer streets because they they say that they drive safer than humans and that they have an electric fleet. So it will help reduce emissions. But essentially, they see it as being the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>News anchor: \u003c/strong>We see San Francisco as a litmus test for the commercialization of Robotaxis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>News anchor: is the CEO of Cruise and he’s been pretty vocal and active about his company and shared excitement to to expand not just in San Francisco but cities across the country and to do a quick and aggressively.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>News anchor: \u003c/strong>You know, the rate of expansion has been pretty impressive. And this is not because we’re going just just going wild here. It’s actually because the system itself is improving so quickly. And so even just a couple of weeks ago on the GM earnings call, I said we were at about 10,000 rides per week. This last week it was 15,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>A lot of people have been talking about these driverless cars. They’ve been on the roads in San Francisco. What have they been allowed to do up until now?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>So Waymo has been able to drive around with these cars for all hours of the day. And Cruise has been able to do during certain hours, mostly at night. But both of them essentially have not been able to charge people without a safety driver present. And that was the biggest hurdle to, you know, expanding their their business operations, essentially. Prior to the vote, Waymo had 250 vehicles in the city with about 100 in operation. Crews has about 400 with 300 operating at night as of last week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Well, I know a really important commission just made a huge decision about expanding these fleets in San Francisco. Can you remind us what the you see is and what was that meeting about exactly?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>The California Public Utilities Commission is, in this case tasked with weighing passenger safety in these autonomous vehicles known as robo taxis. And they already approved these, you know, initial permits that allow them to operate on the streets. And now they have just made a big decision to let them operate and charge people, saying that they met the requirements that were asked of them in the first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>I know that there were people who are both for and against these robotaxis at this California Public Utilities Commission meeting. I know these companies, of course, are huge proponents of these, but who else was coming out in favor of robo taxis?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>So some big supporters are some street safety advocates, but also a lot of groups that advocate for blind people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Activist: \u003c/strong>As a blind woman, I am here fully to support autonomous technology.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>They seem to be very enthusiastic about it. They have already been, you know, in talks with these companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Activist: \u003c/strong>Not only has being a Waymo tested rider provided me with a level of independence that I have never been able to experience before. It has provided me with a feeling of safety that I’ve never had before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>Not all disability advocates agree, but they seem to be the most enthusiastic about this. And then there’s also a union, SEIU, that was also in favor of this, because they have been assured by one of the companies that they will be union jobs and their members need jobs right now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>SEIU Spokesperson \u003c/strong>We already represent workers within cruise spaces. Cruise is one of the few tech companies in San Francisco that is celebrating the fact that they want to stay in San Francisco and operate in San Francisco. And right now, we need to be able to celebrate those opportunities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>There’s also this group Safer Roads for All, which is actually affiliated with the companies. What? What’s their deal? Who are they?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>They are more of a campaign that brings together tech industry groups. But Waymo is a the only actual company behind that. So these tech industry groups are advocating to let this technology move on. And, you know, the groups behind these have, you know, been advocating for anything from just general tech industry things to specifically autonomous vehicles. But essentially, they are tech groups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>How would you maybe summarize what it is that people like about these robo taxis?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>In essence, I think it’s the convenience of being able to get from point A to point B.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>News anchor: \u003c/strong>Autonomous vehicles represent a route to safer roads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>Without driving themselves, without dealing with parking and without having a person in the vehicle. Maybe there’s more privacy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Advocate: \u003c/strong>As a woman who frequently needs to take rideshare or public transportation on a regular basis, and especially during evening hours, I feel much safer knowing that I’m writing, in a judgment free discrimination, free beer free vehicle rather than one that you nervously navigate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>There’s a novelty. And until last week, they had to be free when there was no driver.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>News anchor: \u003c/strong>I encourage the panel to please embrace this technology that our city and region have long been renowned for. Thank you for your time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>So, I mean, there’s been a lot of excitement I know, around these, but there have also been some really strong feelings about them, too. Who is coming out against these robo taxis?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>The most vocal opponents of a large expansion of these vehicles are essentially human drivers, those who drive Uber and Lyft and taxi cabs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Driver: \u003c/strong>[SPANISH]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Translator: \u003c/strong>I’m raising five children, if the driverless cars expand, they’re going to take away the work from us. And I have.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>As well as some disability advocates who feel like this really just isn’t ready for them. People with more like physical disabilities, they’re in a wheelchair.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Activist: \u003c/strong>It’s an issue that we we don’t yet have an agreement on what accessibility looks like. How do folks like myself who are full time wheelchair users enter and use and exit these vehicles safely?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>City officials from departments of for first responders, transportation agencies and you know Mayor London breed the Board of supervisors President Aaron Peskin are really not for an immediate big expansion. They’re urging more of an incremental approach, but there’s also not a lot that they can do to to stop that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>And I know there’s also a lot of safety concerns from firefighters and also police and also first responders. Can you describe some of those incidents for us?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>News anchor: \u003c/strong>Now to an autonomous car that got stuck for hours today on San Francisco Street. This is the latest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>So the fire department has tallied over 50 incidents this year where they have been blocked from doing their job because one of these vehicles, you know, stopped, maybe has overreacted and just didn’t want to run into anything. It’s hard to say exactly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>News anchor: : \u003c/strong>Firefighters describe driverless cars rolling into fire scenes, running over hoses, even having to break windshields to stop a vehicle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>It’s meant that sometimes these firefighters, while they’re, you know, trying to respond to a fire, are stuck babysitting a robotaxi for a roughly half an hour, which is not what the robotaxi companies themselves say happens. But it’s it’s been noticeable enough to interfere with their jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Jeanine Nicholson: \u003c/strong>I’m not it’s high technology. What I am is part of safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>The San Francisco Fire Department chief is Jeanine Nicholson, and she has been pretty vocal that it’s not their job to babysit these cars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Jeanine Nicholson: \u003c/strong>Every second can make the difference if you are blocked by an autonomous vehicle. A fire will double in size. And even if that could lead to more and to the people in that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>It is the job of these companies to stay out of their way and train their cars to stay out of their way, and that the training that first responders have received so far from the companies they say doesn’t match what’s actually happening on the ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Jeanine Nicholson: \u003c/strong>But what would have really helped would have been a two way conversation seven years ago. It’s been a one way conversation up until very recently.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>And ultimately, she feels that the transparency has been lacking, the collaboration has been lacking, and that it just overall needs to stop interfering with doing the business of saving lives and people’s homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Jeanine Nicholson: \u003c/strong>It’s the unpredictability, the obstructions and the lack of working with us is really that it is really a problem. They are still not ready for prime time because of how they have impacted our operations. And and, you know.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>And I feel like I also have to ask you about the cones that are being put on these robo taxis sort of as a form of protest. What are those about?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>So over the summer, it was another noticeable aspect of these cars is that it has been that there’s been some activists who were placing cones on them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>News anchor: : \u003c/strong>Marking autonomous vehicles as traffic hazards. The group Safe Street Rebels is placing cones on cruise and Waymo cars as a way to temporarily stop that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>You know, would basically make them not go anywhere and have to be retrieved by the companies. You know, there’s even been some like reports that a firefighter has done that to to to prevent them from interfering further. But the city does not condone it. And it’s it’s just the most visible sign of resistance to this technology and some of the havoc that people say it’s been bringing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>In terms of what’s next. I do want to ask you about the commission vote. I know they ultimately approved this new permit for robo taxis. Can you explain how they came to that vote?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>So Commissioner Genevieve Sharma was one of the four commissioners who was urging caution, saying they’re not ready for prime time as well, and that they just need more time to really understand the data to from these companies and from the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Unidentified: \u003c/strong>Because of this insufficient record. I believe it is premature to vote to approve these resolutions today. Instead, the resolution should be held or withdrawn so that crews and Waymo have the additional time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>The other three commissioners voted in favor for saying that they met the requirements that were asked of them, that they can always add more restrictions later. And one of the commissioners, Commissioner John Reynolds, was a little bit more enthusiastic about them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>John Reynolds \u003c/strong>Today is the first of many steps in bringing transportation services to Californians and setting a successful and transparent model for other states to follow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>He actually used to be general counsel for Cruise, but didn’t have to recuse himself because enough time had passed. Commissioner Reynolds said that, you know, he’s able to advocate for both, you know, the people of California and can see what this technology does, essentially.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Unidentified: \u003c/strong>Commissioner John Reynolds. Yes. Mr. Houck? Yes. Commissioner Sherman. No as. Alice Reynolds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Advocate: \u003c/strong>Yes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Unknown: \u003c/strong>The vote is three one, tthe item passes. All right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>I will now. Well, you mentioned this means there’s going to be a huge expansion of these fleets in San Francisco. But I mean, I definitely have not seen one of these robot taxis where I live in Vallejo. But, I mean, with this vote, does that mean that we could see them possibly expand to other cities?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>This vote is specific to San Francisco, but there are many other companies that are doing testing in the Bay Area, both on the peninsula and other places. So people in Nevada Bay Area will probably see these around as more companies continue to test and seek more approvals. Waymo and Cruise are going to be more dominant in the city itself, but everyone’s going to be seeing them more in the future, that’s for sure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Well, I mean, I that this for some reason feels like such a San Francisco story. What do you think this debate says about where San Francisco is at right now?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>Well, San Francisco is kind of once again the testing ground for a lot of this emerging technology. We saw with Uber and Lyft. That was our biggest example. And this time, city officials are really not wanting to be the guinea pigs. But for other people, it’s really exciting to be the first ones to do this and to see this, you know, get the first access to a glimpse into the future, a little bit of the Jetsons people compared to. So there’s kind of this split and excitement and trepidation about where this leaves the city. But once again, the city is seeing it before many others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>Well, Ida, thank you so much for joining us on the show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ida Mojadad: \u003c/strong>Thank you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra: \u003c/strong>That was Ida Mojadad, a reporter for the San Francisco Standard. This 28 minute conversation with Ida was cut down and edited by producer Maria Esquinca. It was pitched by senior editor Alan Motecillo, who added all the tape. This episode was scored by me. I’m Ericka Cruz Guevara. The Bay is a production of member supported KQED in San Francisco. Thank you so much for listening to next time.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>"
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"title": "You're Not Imagining It: There Are More Driverless Cars in SF Now",
"headTitle": "You’re Not Imagining It: There Are More Driverless Cars in SF Now | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>If you’ve driven around San Francisco recently, you may have noticed a fleet of white Jaguar SUVs with spinning gadgetry on top and lots of other tech sticking off the back and sides. If you pull up next to one of these, you might notice that even though a person is sitting in the driver’s seat, they aren’t really controlling the car.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These are self-driving cars — or autonomous vehicles, as they are known more formally — from a company called Waymo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bay Curious listener Lenore Kenny says she’s noticed a lot more of these on San Francisco streets than she used to see. She’s wondering, why are there so many? And what are they doing?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriouspodcastinfo]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lenore’s right: There are more autonomous vehicles, or AVs, on our roads. More than 1,400 are registered in California, up from 900 last November, according to the DMV. But San Francisco alone has more than 400,000 registered vehicles; the number of AVs is small by comparison. Still, in some parts of the city, you can count on seeing AVs every few minutes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Waymo is not the only culprit. Nine AV companies are testing driverless tech in California right now, according to the California Public Utilities Commission. Companies like Cruise, Argo AI and Zoox are competing to crack the automated vehicle market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lenore wants to know why more cars are on the road than before. The short answer is that companies developing AVs need data — lots of data — to ensure the cars can handle any driving situation. And, as anybody who has driven in San Francisco can attest, there’s a lot to think about when driving here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“San Francisco is an incredibly diverse driving environment,” says Sam Kansara, senior product manager for Waymo, which is owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet. “Part of our increase in presence in San Francisco is about making sure our software and technology can perform well in all of those different environments.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The AV experiment uses the idea of machine learning. \u003ca href=\"https://www.bu.edu/articles/2021/self-taught-self-driving-cars/\">Engineers created an algorithm that continues to get better as the test vehicles collect data.\u003c/a> The car “learns” from its experiences driving, building new scenarios into its algorithm and making it more reliable and safer over time. The more miles the cars drive, the more data they collect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The key of the algorithms is that in order to be efficient, they need to have a pretty big database of learning examples,” says Alexandre Bayen, director of the \u003ca href=\"https://its.berkeley.edu/\">UC Berkeley Institute of Transportation Studies\u003c/a>. “That’s why you see so many of them collecting that data right now, because we’re not there yet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It has been a long road to development for autonomous vehicles. They are certainly more visible on streets today, but AVs have been on California’s roads in one form or another for almost 30 years, beginning in 1997 in San Diego. The HOV lanes on I-15 were closed during the day, which allowed scientists and research engineers like Steven Shladover from \u003ca href=\"https://path.berkeley.edu/\">UC Berkeley’s California Partners for Advanced Transportation Technology program\u003c/a> to run vehicles for “a big public demonstration.” Until then testing had taken place primarily on test tracks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The technology has evolved from those early years and spawned things like adaptive cruise control — available on many modern automobiles — to cars that can drive themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Are autonomous vehicles safe?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>At this point, companies and scientists have been testing AVs on California streets since the 1990s, always with a human operator in the car in case of emergencies. But cars can be deadly, so regulators are being cautious about approving AVs in their current state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re going to have to have some minimum standards set so that riders who aren’t specialists in this field can be given some reassurance that this is actually a safe system,” says Shladover. He wouldn’t name specific brands but cautioned, “some of the companies that work in this space don’t know what they’re doing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[emailsignup newslettername=\"baycurious\" align=\"right\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California DMV says \u003ca href=\"https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/vehicle-industry-services/autonomous-vehicles/california-autonomous-vehicle-regulations/\">a variety of safety protocols are in place\u003c/a> and bad actors can lose their permits to operate. But Shladover cautions, “The state cannot ensure the safety of the automated driving systems entirely by themselves.” He says it will take cooperation between the federal government and the state government to make AVs truly safe. “They will need federal safety regulations to complement the state regulations in areas that the state does not have the authority or the expertise to regulate,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the software algorithms improve, safety should improve along with it. Still, the rollout likely will remain a gradual process, with certain types of vehicles allowed to operate in certain areas under certain conditions and at certain times of day. If AVs are going to truly become a viable transportation option, they’ll need to be able to drive everywhere, on any type of road, in many weather conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That means not only driving here in the Bay Area, but driving up to Tahoe,” says Shladover, “driving up to Yosemite, the rural roads in central California, going through the Bay Bridge toll plaza around sunset when the sun is shining straight in your eyes.” All of these scenarios need to be accounted for, for a driverless vehicle to drive solo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When could we see driverless AVs on the road all around us, safely ferrying zoned-out passengers to their destinations? Estimates vary, with regulatory agencies like the CPUC and DMV, as well as the AV companies themselves, apprehensive to discuss concrete timelines. Meanwhile, observing experts, like Shladover, say we have a long way to go.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When pressed for a date, he says 2075, but adds his gut answer: “Probably never.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriousquestion]\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>If you’ve driven around San Francisco recently, you may have noticed a fleet of white Jaguar SUVs with spinning gadgetry on top and lots of other tech sticking off the back and sides. If you pull up next to one of these, you might notice that even though a person is sitting in the driver’s seat, they aren’t really controlling the car.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These are self-driving cars — or autonomous vehicles, as they are known more formally — from a company called Waymo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bay Curious listener Lenore Kenny says she’s noticed a lot more of these on San Francisco streets than she used to see. She’s wondering, why are there so many? And what are they doing?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003caside class=\"alignleft utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__bayCuriousPodcastShortcode__bayCurious\">\u003cimg src=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bayCuriousLogo.png alt=\"Bay Curious Podcast\" loading=\"lazy\" />\n \u003ca href=\"/news/series/baycurious\">Bay Curious\u003c/a> is a podcast that answers your questions about the Bay Area.\n Subscribe on \u003ca href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Apple Podcasts\u003c/a>,\n \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NPR One\u003c/a> or your favorite podcast platform.\u003c/aside>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lenore’s right: There are more autonomous vehicles, or AVs, on our roads. More than 1,400 are registered in California, up from 900 last November, according to the DMV. But San Francisco alone has more than 400,000 registered vehicles; the number of AVs is small by comparison. Still, in some parts of the city, you can count on seeing AVs every few minutes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Waymo is not the only culprit. Nine AV companies are testing driverless tech in California right now, according to the California Public Utilities Commission. Companies like Cruise, Argo AI and Zoox are competing to crack the automated vehicle market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lenore wants to know why more cars are on the road than before. The short answer is that companies developing AVs need data — lots of data — to ensure the cars can handle any driving situation. And, as anybody who has driven in San Francisco can attest, there’s a lot to think about when driving here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“San Francisco is an incredibly diverse driving environment,” says Sam Kansara, senior product manager for Waymo, which is owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet. “Part of our increase in presence in San Francisco is about making sure our software and technology can perform well in all of those different environments.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The AV experiment uses the idea of machine learning. \u003ca href=\"https://www.bu.edu/articles/2021/self-taught-self-driving-cars/\">Engineers created an algorithm that continues to get better as the test vehicles collect data.\u003c/a> The car “learns” from its experiences driving, building new scenarios into its algorithm and making it more reliable and safer over time. The more miles the cars drive, the more data they collect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The key of the algorithms is that in order to be efficient, they need to have a pretty big database of learning examples,” says Alexandre Bayen, director of the \u003ca href=\"https://its.berkeley.edu/\">UC Berkeley Institute of Transportation Studies\u003c/a>. “That’s why you see so many of them collecting that data right now, because we’re not there yet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It has been a long road to development for autonomous vehicles. They are certainly more visible on streets today, but AVs have been on California’s roads in one form or another for almost 30 years, beginning in 1997 in San Diego. The HOV lanes on I-15 were closed during the day, which allowed scientists and research engineers like Steven Shladover from \u003ca href=\"https://path.berkeley.edu/\">UC Berkeley’s California Partners for Advanced Transportation Technology program\u003c/a> to run vehicles for “a big public demonstration.” Until then testing had taken place primarily on test tracks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The technology has evolved from those early years and spawned things like adaptive cruise control — available on many modern automobiles — to cars that can drive themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Are autonomous vehicles safe?\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>At this point, companies and scientists have been testing AVs on California streets since the 1990s, always with a human operator in the car in case of emergencies. But cars can be deadly, so regulators are being cautious about approving AVs in their current state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re going to have to have some minimum standards set so that riders who aren’t specialists in this field can be given some reassurance that this is actually a safe system,” says Shladover. He wouldn’t name specific brands but cautioned, “some of the companies that work in this space don’t know what they’re doing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California DMV says \u003ca href=\"https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/vehicle-industry-services/autonomous-vehicles/california-autonomous-vehicle-regulations/\">a variety of safety protocols are in place\u003c/a> and bad actors can lose their permits to operate. But Shladover cautions, “The state cannot ensure the safety of the automated driving systems entirely by themselves.” He says it will take cooperation between the federal government and the state government to make AVs truly safe. “They will need federal safety regulations to complement the state regulations in areas that the state does not have the authority or the expertise to regulate,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the software algorithms improve, safety should improve along with it. Still, the rollout likely will remain a gradual process, with certain types of vehicles allowed to operate in certain areas under certain conditions and at certain times of day. If AVs are going to truly become a viable transportation option, they’ll need to be able to drive everywhere, on any type of road, in many weather conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That means not only driving here in the Bay Area, but driving up to Tahoe,” says Shladover, “driving up to Yosemite, the rural roads in central California, going through the Bay Bridge toll plaza around sunset when the sun is shining straight in your eyes.” All of these scenarios need to be accounted for, for a driverless vehicle to drive solo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When could we see driverless AVs on the road all around us, safely ferrying zoned-out passengers to their destinations? Estimates vary, with regulatory agencies like the CPUC and DMV, as well as the AV companies themselves, apprehensive to discuss concrete timelines. Meanwhile, observing experts, like Shladover, say we have a long way to go.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When pressed for a date, he says 2075, but adds his gut answer: “Probably never.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"disqusTitle": "5 Reasons Why Self-Driving Cars Aren't Coming Anytime Soon",
"title": "5 Reasons Why Self-Driving Cars Aren't Coming Anytime Soon",
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"content": "\u003cp>In the world of autonomous vehicles, Pittsburgh and Silicon Valley are bustling hubs of development and testing. But ask those involved in self-driving vehicles when we might actually see them carrying passengers in every city, and you'll get an almost universal answer: Not anytime soon.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003ch3>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11723058/will-self-driving-cars-put-us-in-transportation-heaven-or-hell\">Will Self-Driving Cars Put Us in Transportation Heaven or Hell?\u003c/a>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11723058/will-self-driving-cars-put-us-in-transportation-heaven-or-hell\">\u003cimg class=\"\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/02/RS8358_152766339-1020x711.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"389\" height=\"271\">\u003c/a>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>An optimistic assessment is 10 years. Many others say decades as researchers try to conquer a number of obstacles. The vehicles themselves will debut in limited, well-mapped areas within cities and spread outward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11657306/police-release-video-of-fatal-crash-involving-uber-self-driving-car\">fatal crash in Arizona\u003c/a> involving an Uber autonomous vehicle in March slowed progress, largely because it hurt the public's perception of the safety of vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Companies slowed research to be more careful. Google's Waymo, for instance, decided not to launch a fully autonomous ride-hailing service in the Phoenix area and will rely on human backup drivers to ferry passengers, at least for now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here are the problems that researchers must overcome to start giving rides without humans behind the wheel:\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Snow and Weather\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>When it's heavy enough to cover the pavement, snow blocks the view of lane lines that vehicle cameras use to find their way. Researchers so far haven't figured out a way around this. That's why much of the testing is done in warm-weather climates such as Arizona and California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Heavy snow, rain, fog and sandstorms can obstruct the view of cameras. Light beams sent out by laser sensors can bounce off snowflakes and think they are obstacles. Radar can see through the weather, but it doesn't show the shape of an object needed for computers to figure out what it is.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003ch3>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1933667/should-self-driving-cars-have-ethics\">Should Self-Driving Cars Have Ethics?\u003c/a>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1933667/should-self-driving-cars-have-ethics\">\u003cimg src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/10/gettyimages-843272498-80183887af24176749966ee5ee5cd0e22bf46cf5-1180x885.jpg\" alt=\"\">\u003c/a>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>\"It's like losing part of your vision,\" says Raj Rajkumar, an electrical and computer engineering professor at Carnegie Mellon University.\u003cbr>\nResearchers are working on laser sensors that use a different light beam wavelength to see through snowflakes, said Greg McGuire, director of the MCity autonomous vehicle testing lab at the University of Michigan. Software also is being developed so vehicles can differentiate between real obstacles and snowflakes, rain, fog, and other conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But many companies are still trying to master the difficult task of driving on a clear day with steady traction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Once we are able to have a system reliably perform in those, then we'll start working toward expanding to those more challenging conditions,\" said Noah Zych, Uber's head of system safety for self-driving cars.\u003cbr>\n[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Pavement Lines and Curbs\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Across the globe, roadway marking lines are different, or they may not even exist. Lane lines aren't standardized, so vehicles have to learn how to drive differently in each city. Sometimes there aren't any curbs to help vehicles judge lane width.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For instance, in Pittsburgh's industrial \"Strip District,\" where many self-driving vehicles are tested, the city draws lines across the narrow lanes to mark where vehicles should stop for stop signs. Sometimes the lines are so far back and buildings are so close to the street that autonomous cars can't see traffic on the cross street if they stop at the line. One workaround is to program vehicles to stop for the line and creep forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Is it better to do a double stop?\" asked Pete Rander, president of Argo AI, an autonomous vehicle company in which Ford has invested heavily. \"Since intersections vary, it's not that easy.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Dealing With Human Drivers\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>For many years, autonomous vehicles will have to deal with humans who don't always play by the rules. They double-park or walk in front of cars. Recently in Pittsburgh, an Argo backup driver had to take over when his car stopped during a right turn, blocking an intersection when it couldn't immediately decide whether to go around a double-parked delivery truck.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003ch3>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11668523/distracted-autopilot\">Mark Fiore: Distracted Autopilot\u003c/a>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11668523/distracted-autopilot\">\u003cimg src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/distracted_051518_final-1180x753.jpg\" alt=\"\">\u003c/a>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>\"Even if the car might eventually figure something out, it's shared space, and it's socially unacceptable\" to block traffic, Rander said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Humans also make eye contact with other drivers to make sure they're looking in the right direction, something still being developed for autonomous vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Add to that the antagonism that some feel toward robots. People have reportedly been harassing Waymo's autonomous test vehicles near Phoenix. The Arizona Republic reported in December that police is suburban Chandler have documented at least 21 cases in the past two years, including a man waiving a gun at a Waymo van and people who slashed tires and threw rocks. One Jeep forced the vans off the road six times.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Left Turns\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Deciding when to turn left in front of oncoming traffic without a green arrow is one of the more difficult tasks for human drivers and one that causes many crashes. Autonomous vehicles have the same trouble.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">'I think the things that humans have challenges with, we're challenged with as well.'\u003ccite>Waymo CEO John Krafcik\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Waymo CEO John Krafcik said in a recent interview that his company's vehicles are still encountering occasional problems at intersections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I think the things that humans have challenges with, we're challenged with as well,\" he said. \"So sometimes unprotected lefts are super challenging for a human, sometimes they're super challenging for us.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Consumer Acceptance\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The fatal Uber crash near Phoenix last year did more than push the pause button on testing. It also rattled consumers who someday will be asked to ride in self-driving vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003ch3>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11658245/arizona-suspends-ubers-self-driving-vehicle-testing-after-fatal-crash\">Uber Won't Seek California Permit Renewal to Test Self-Driving Vehicles After Fatal Crash\u003c/a>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11658245/arizona-suspends-ubers-self-driving-vehicle-testing-after-fatal-crash\">\u003cimg src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/ntsb-uber-ff64f5bdd733572617aece2b246b2f335d0c9033-1180x885.jpg\" alt=\"\">\u003c/a>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Surveys taken after the Uber crash showed that drivers are reluctant to give up control to a computer. One by AAA found that 73 percent of American drivers would be too fearful to ride in a fully self-driving vehicle. That's up from 63 percent in late 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Autonomous vehicle companies are showing test passengers information on screens about where the vehicles are headed and what its sensors are seeing. The more people ride, the more they trust the vehicles, says Waymo's Krafcik.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"After they become more and more confident they rarely look at the screens, and they're on their phones or relaxing or sleeping,\" he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In the world of autonomous vehicles, Pittsburgh and Silicon Valley are bustling hubs of development and testing. But ask those involved in self-driving vehicles when we might actually see them carrying passengers in every city, and you'll get an almost universal answer: Not anytime soon.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003ch3>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11723058/will-self-driving-cars-put-us-in-transportation-heaven-or-hell\">Will Self-Driving Cars Put Us in Transportation Heaven or Hell?\u003c/a>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11723058/will-self-driving-cars-put-us-in-transportation-heaven-or-hell\">\u003cimg class=\"\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/02/RS8358_152766339-1020x711.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"389\" height=\"271\">\u003c/a>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>An optimistic assessment is 10 years. Many others say decades as researchers try to conquer a number of obstacles. The vehicles themselves will debut in limited, well-mapped areas within cities and spread outward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11657306/police-release-video-of-fatal-crash-involving-uber-self-driving-car\">fatal crash in Arizona\u003c/a> involving an Uber autonomous vehicle in March slowed progress, largely because it hurt the public's perception of the safety of vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Companies slowed research to be more careful. Google's Waymo, for instance, decided not to launch a fully autonomous ride-hailing service in the Phoenix area and will rely on human backup drivers to ferry passengers, at least for now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here are the problems that researchers must overcome to start giving rides without humans behind the wheel:\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Snow and Weather\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>When it's heavy enough to cover the pavement, snow blocks the view of lane lines that vehicle cameras use to find their way. Researchers so far haven't figured out a way around this. That's why much of the testing is done in warm-weather climates such as Arizona and California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Heavy snow, rain, fog and sandstorms can obstruct the view of cameras. Light beams sent out by laser sensors can bounce off snowflakes and think they are obstacles. Radar can see through the weather, but it doesn't show the shape of an object needed for computers to figure out what it is.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003ch3>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1933667/should-self-driving-cars-have-ethics\">Should Self-Driving Cars Have Ethics?\u003c/a>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1933667/should-self-driving-cars-have-ethics\">\u003cimg src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/10/gettyimages-843272498-80183887af24176749966ee5ee5cd0e22bf46cf5-1180x885.jpg\" alt=\"\">\u003c/a>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>\"It's like losing part of your vision,\" says Raj Rajkumar, an electrical and computer engineering professor at Carnegie Mellon University.\u003cbr>\nResearchers are working on laser sensors that use a different light beam wavelength to see through snowflakes, said Greg McGuire, director of the MCity autonomous vehicle testing lab at the University of Michigan. Software also is being developed so vehicles can differentiate between real obstacles and snowflakes, rain, fog, and other conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But many companies are still trying to master the difficult task of driving on a clear day with steady traction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Once we are able to have a system reliably perform in those, then we'll start working toward expanding to those more challenging conditions,\" said Noah Zych, Uber's head of system safety for self-driving cars.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Pavement Lines and Curbs\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Across the globe, roadway marking lines are different, or they may not even exist. Lane lines aren't standardized, so vehicles have to learn how to drive differently in each city. Sometimes there aren't any curbs to help vehicles judge lane width.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For instance, in Pittsburgh's industrial \"Strip District,\" where many self-driving vehicles are tested, the city draws lines across the narrow lanes to mark where vehicles should stop for stop signs. Sometimes the lines are so far back and buildings are so close to the street that autonomous cars can't see traffic on the cross street if they stop at the line. One workaround is to program vehicles to stop for the line and creep forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Is it better to do a double stop?\" asked Pete Rander, president of Argo AI, an autonomous vehicle company in which Ford has invested heavily. \"Since intersections vary, it's not that easy.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Dealing With Human Drivers\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>For many years, autonomous vehicles will have to deal with humans who don't always play by the rules. They double-park or walk in front of cars. Recently in Pittsburgh, an Argo backup driver had to take over when his car stopped during a right turn, blocking an intersection when it couldn't immediately decide whether to go around a double-parked delivery truck.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003ch3>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11668523/distracted-autopilot\">Mark Fiore: Distracted Autopilot\u003c/a>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11668523/distracted-autopilot\">\u003cimg src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/distracted_051518_final-1180x753.jpg\" alt=\"\">\u003c/a>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>\"Even if the car might eventually figure something out, it's shared space, and it's socially unacceptable\" to block traffic, Rander said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Humans also make eye contact with other drivers to make sure they're looking in the right direction, something still being developed for autonomous vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Add to that the antagonism that some feel toward robots. People have reportedly been harassing Waymo's autonomous test vehicles near Phoenix. The Arizona Republic reported in December that police is suburban Chandler have documented at least 21 cases in the past two years, including a man waiving a gun at a Waymo van and people who slashed tires and threw rocks. One Jeep forced the vans off the road six times.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Left Turns\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>Deciding when to turn left in front of oncoming traffic without a green arrow is one of the more difficult tasks for human drivers and one that causes many crashes. Autonomous vehicles have the same trouble.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">'I think the things that humans have challenges with, we're challenged with as well.'\u003ccite>Waymo CEO John Krafcik\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Waymo CEO John Krafcik said in a recent interview that his company's vehicles are still encountering occasional problems at intersections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I think the things that humans have challenges with, we're challenged with as well,\" he said. \"So sometimes unprotected lefts are super challenging for a human, sometimes they're super challenging for us.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Consumer Acceptance\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>The fatal Uber crash near Phoenix last year did more than push the pause button on testing. It also rattled consumers who someday will be asked to ride in self-driving vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003ch3>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11658245/arizona-suspends-ubers-self-driving-vehicle-testing-after-fatal-crash\">Uber Won't Seek California Permit Renewal to Test Self-Driving Vehicles After Fatal Crash\u003c/a>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11658245/arizona-suspends-ubers-self-driving-vehicle-testing-after-fatal-crash\">\u003cimg src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/ntsb-uber-ff64f5bdd733572617aece2b246b2f335d0c9033-1180x885.jpg\" alt=\"\">\u003c/a>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Surveys taken after the Uber crash showed that drivers are reluctant to give up control to a computer. One by AAA found that 73 percent of American drivers would be too fearful to ride in a fully self-driving vehicle. That's up from 63 percent in late 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Autonomous vehicle companies are showing test passengers information on screens about where the vehicles are headed and what its sensors are seeing. The more people ride, the more they trust the vehicles, says Waymo's Krafcik.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"After they become more and more confident they rarely look at the screens, and they're on their phones or relaxing or sleeping,\" he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The California Public Utilities Commission on Friday awarded Foster City-based Zoox the state's first permit to carry members of the public as part of an autonomous vehicle passenger service. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/uploadedFiles/CPUCWebsite/Content/Licensing/autovehicle/Zoox%20AV%20Permit.pdf\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">CPUC pilot project permit\u003c/a> doesn't mean you'll be hopping in a driverless autonomous vehicle to get home from a bar after New Year's revelry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The approval requires Zoox -- which rhymes with \"nukes\" -- to have a DMV-licensed safety driver at the wheel, and it bars the company from charging passengers during the pilot project. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bert Kaufman, the company's chief of corporate and regulatory affairs, called the permit \"an important milestone as we move toward launching fully autonomous\" passenger service. The company has said it plans to roll out that service by the end of 2020. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although it's the first firm to get \u003ca href=\"http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/avcpilotinfo/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a CPUC permit\u003c/a> for autonomous vehicle passenger service, Zoox is one entrant in a crowded field testing autonomous vehicle technology and vehicles. So far, 62 companies have received DMV permits to test \"drivered\" autonomous vehicles in California. Just one, Alphabet's Waymo, has secured \u003ca href=\"https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/pubs/newsrel/2018/2018_81\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">DMV permission\u003c/a> to test driverless vehicles. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The DMV permits are a prerequisite for applying for the CPUC's autonomous vehicle service permit. The commission regulates for-hire passenger carriers in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Zoox has reportedly \u003ca href=\"https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/zoox#section-funding-rounds\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">raised $790 million\u003c/a> to not only develop a fully autonomous driving system but also to create a novel type of passenger vehicle. Those cars will be the centerpiece of a new ride-hailing service that will challenge Uber and Lyft -- both of which are also working to develop autonomous vehicles. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-07-17/robot-taxi-startup-zoox-has-800-million-and-a-wild-pitch\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">A Bloomberg-Businessweek profile\u003c/a> earlier this year outlined the thinking behind the company's strategy:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>(The vehicle) they’ve built is all-electric. It’s bidirectional so it can cruise into a parking spot traveling one way and cruise out the other. It makes noises to communicate with pedestrians. It has screens on the windows to issue custom welcome messages to passengers. If the founders prove correct, it will be the safest vehicle on the road, having replaced decades of conventions built around drivers with a type of protective cocoon for riders. ...\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Prototypes of those revolutionary-sounding vehicles have been undergoing testing at off-street sites, including the former Alameda Naval Air Station.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But to develop and road-test its autonomous vehicle software and hardware, the company has been outfitting Toyota Highlander SUVs with sensors and computers and operating the vehicles in San Francisco and on the Peninsula.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The California Public Utilities Commission on Friday awarded Foster City-based Zoox the state's first permit to carry members of the public as part of an autonomous vehicle passenger service. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/uploadedFiles/CPUCWebsite/Content/Licensing/autovehicle/Zoox%20AV%20Permit.pdf\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">CPUC pilot project permit\u003c/a> doesn't mean you'll be hopping in a driverless autonomous vehicle to get home from a bar after New Year's revelry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The approval requires Zoox -- which rhymes with \"nukes\" -- to have a DMV-licensed safety driver at the wheel, and it bars the company from charging passengers during the pilot project. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bert Kaufman, the company's chief of corporate and regulatory affairs, called the permit \"an important milestone as we move toward launching fully autonomous\" passenger service. The company has said it plans to roll out that service by the end of 2020. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although it's the first firm to get \u003ca href=\"http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/avcpilotinfo/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a CPUC permit\u003c/a> for autonomous vehicle passenger service, Zoox is one entrant in a crowded field testing autonomous vehicle technology and vehicles. So far, 62 companies have received DMV permits to test \"drivered\" autonomous vehicles in California. Just one, Alphabet's Waymo, has secured \u003ca href=\"https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/pubs/newsrel/2018/2018_81\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">DMV permission\u003c/a> to test driverless vehicles. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
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},
"mindshift": {
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"order": 12
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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"morning-edition": {
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"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
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"onourwatch": {
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"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
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},
"pbs-newshour": {
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},
"perspectives": {
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"order": 14
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"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
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"politicalbreakdown": {
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"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Political-Breakdown-2024-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"order": 5
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"possible": {
"id": "possible",
"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Possible-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.possible.fm/",
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"source": "Possible"
},
"link": "/radio/program/possible",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/730YpdUSNlMyPQwNnyjp4k"
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},
"pri-the-world": {
"id": "pri-the-world",
"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 2pm-3pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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