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"content": "\n\u003cp>In an effort to prevent a repeat of the city’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12089915/sf-supe-to-launch-inquiry-on-waymos-july-fourth-traffic-meltdown\">July Fourth traffic meltdown\u003c/a>, city transportation officials have expanded public transit service, restricted autonomous vehicle operations and discouraged spectators from driving to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12103039/fleet-week-2026-practice-schedule-blue-angels-ship-tours-where-events\">Fleet Week\u003c/a> this weekend. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp> ”Just be aware that parking is very tough. If you can take Muni or walk or we have lots of bike sharing,” said Viktoriya Wise, director of streets at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency at a news conference on Friday, pointing to a nearby Lyft bike rack.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Wise said the decision to restrict the robotaxi companies Waymo and Zoox from operating across a large swath of the Marina District, The Embarcadero and the entire Presidio — a practice called “geofencing” — was based on “lessons learned” from this year’s Fourth of July fiasco. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>It’s the first time the city has ever geofenced Fleet Week, although the practice is common for other large-scale events, such as the Outside Lands music festival, according to SFMTA.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1536\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/IMG_0073.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12090009\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/IMG_0073.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/IMG_0073-2000x1500.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/IMG_0073-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/IMG_0073-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">More than 30 Waymos became stuck in the only parking area for the fireworks show on July 4, 2026, blocking parking for hours. (Courtesy of Dr. R, AGI Summit 2026)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On the last Fourth of July, thousands of people streamed into the areas around the Golden Gate Bridge to watch a special fireworks show, bringing traffic to a standstill across a large section of the Marina District and surrounding neighborhoods as crowds left en masse.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In the days that followed, city officials said the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12090516/too-much-traffic-not-enough-toilets-sf-city-officials-revisit-fourth-of-july-mishaps\">mess\u003c/a> was caused partly by autonomous vehicles that blocked traffic and drivers who illegally used transit-only lanes.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We have had challenges with autonomous vehicles, and the congestion that they can create sometimes when they brick, for example,” Wise said, referring to when the cars freeze in place. “ We’ve since partnered with them to make sure that we do not have those kind of traffic [disruptions].” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Both Waymo and Zoox said they would comply with the geofence request from the city. The geofence began Friday, Oct. 9 and runs through Sunday, Oct. 11, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Ride-hailing companies like Uber or Lyft are exempt. The increased regulation of autonomous vehicle companies comes as Waymo steadily expands its fleet size in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A spokesperson for the company told KQED there are over 1,300 Waymo vehicles operating in the region — more than quadruple the number when it expanded access to the public in 2024.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The city expects as many as 3,000 people to crowd the Marina Green alone at any given time — 1,000 more people than last year — according to a Fleet Week medical planning memo that San Francisco Supervisor Stephen Sherrill’s office shared with KQED.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>This year’s Fleet Week is likely to be more popular than past years, Sherrill said at a September \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12097824/could-san-francisco-see-july-4-crowds-for-fleet-week-city-leaders-say-not-exactly\">hearing\u003c/a>, partly because the U.S. Navy’s aerobatic team, the Blue Angels, are set to return after last year’s government shutdown canceled them. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The SFMTA is \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfmta.com/travel-updates/fleet-week-october-9-11-2026\">increasing Muni service\u003c/a> on routes that serve the city’s eastern and northern waterfront, where it expects people to watch the Blue Angels. Wise said the agency will have parking control officers in “areas where we expect the most crowding.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Make sure that you take the time to get to the events or wherever it is you’re going in the city,” she said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In an effort to prevent a repeat of the city’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12089915/sf-supe-to-launch-inquiry-on-waymos-july-fourth-traffic-meltdown\">July Fourth traffic meltdown\u003c/a>, city transportation officials have expanded public transit service, restricted autonomous vehicle operations and discouraged spectators from driving to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12103039/fleet-week-2026-practice-schedule-blue-angels-ship-tours-where-events\">Fleet Week\u003c/a> this weekend. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp> ”Just be aware that parking is very tough. If you can take Muni or walk or we have lots of bike sharing,” said Viktoriya Wise, director of streets at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency at a news conference on Friday, pointing to a nearby Lyft bike rack.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp> ”Just be aware that parking is very tough. If you can take Muni or walk or we have lots of bike sharing,” said Viktoriya Wise, director of streets at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency at a news conference on Friday, pointing to a nearby Lyft bike rack.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Wise said the decision to restrict the robotaxi companies Waymo and Zoox from operating across a large swath of the Marina District, The Embarcadero and the entire Presidio — a practice called “geofencing” — was based on “lessons learned” from this year’s Fourth of July fiasco. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Wise said the decision to restrict the robotaxi companies Waymo and Zoox from operating across a large swath of the Marina District, The Embarcadero and the entire Presidio — a practice called “geofencing” — was based on “lessons learned” from this year’s Fourth of July fiasco. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>It’s the first time the city has ever geofenced Fleet Week, although the practice is common for other large-scale events, such as the Outside Lands music festival, according to SFMTA.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>On the last Fourth of July, thousands of people streamed into the areas around the Golden Gate Bridge to watch a special fireworks show, bringing traffic to a standstill across a large section of the Marina District and surrounding neighborhoods as crowds left en masse.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In the days that followed, city officials said the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12090516/too-much-traffic-not-enough-toilets-sf-city-officials-revisit-fourth-of-july-mishaps\">mess\u003c/a> was caused partly by autonomous vehicles that blocked traffic and drivers who illegally used transit-only lanes.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We have had challenges with autonomous vehicles, and the congestion that they can create sometimes when they brick, for example,” Wise said, referring to when the cars freeze in place. “ We’ve since partnered with them to make sure that we do not have those kind of traffic [disruptions].” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Both Waymo and Zoox said they would comply with the geofence request from the city. The geofence began Friday, Oct. 9 and runs through Sunday, Oct. 11, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Ride-hailing companies like Uber or Lyft are exempt. The increased regulation of autonomous vehicle companies comes as Waymo steadily expands its fleet size in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Both Waymo and Zoox said they would comply with the geofence request from the city. The geofence began Friday, Oct. 9 and runs through Sunday, Oct. 11, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Ride-hailing companies like Uber or Lyft are exempt. The increased regulation of autonomous vehicle companies comes as Waymo steadily expands its fleet size in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>A spokesperson for the company told KQED there are over 1,300 Waymo vehicles operating in the region — more than quadruple the number when it expanded access to the public in 2024.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The city expects as many as 3,000 people to crowd the Marina Green alone at any given time — 1,000 more people than last year — according to a Fleet Week medical planning memo that San Francisco Supervisor Stephen Sherrill’s office shared with KQED.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>This year’s Fleet Week is likely to be more popular than past years, Sherrill said at a September \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12097824/could-san-francisco-see-july-4-crowds-for-fleet-week-city-leaders-say-not-exactly\">hearing\u003c/a>, partly because the U.S. Navy’s aerobatic team, the Blue Angels, are set to return after last year’s government shutdown canceled them. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The SFMTA is \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfmta.com/travel-updates/fleet-week-october-9-11-2026\">increasing Muni service\u003c/a> on routes that serve the city’s eastern and northern waterfront, where it expects people to watch the Blue Angels. Wise said the agency will have parking control officers in “areas where we expect the most crowding.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Make sure that you take the time to get to the events or wherever it is you’re going in the city,” she said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "San Francisco transit officials say restrictions on autonomous vehicles are based on “lessons learned” from the last July 4 traffic meltdown.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>In an effort to prevent a repeat of the city’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12089915/sf-supe-to-launch-inquiry-on-waymos-july-fourth-traffic-meltdown\">July Fourth traffic meltdown\u003c/a>, city transportation officials have expanded public transit service, restricted autonomous vehicle operations and discouraged spectators from driving to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12103039/fleet-week-2026-practice-schedule-blue-angels-ship-tours-where-events\">Fleet Week\u003c/a> this weekend. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp> ”Just be aware that parking is very tough. If you can take Muni or walk or we have lots of bike sharing,” said Viktoriya Wise, director of streets at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency at a news conference on Friday, pointing to a nearby Lyft bike rack.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Wise said the decision to restrict the robotaxi companies Waymo and Zoox from operating across a large swath of the Marina District, The Embarcadero and the entire Presidio — a practice called “geofencing” — was based on “lessons learned” from this year’s Fourth of July fiasco. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>It’s the first time the city has ever geofenced Fleet Week, although the practice is common for other large-scale events, such as the Outside Lands music festival, according to SFMTA.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1536\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/IMG_0073.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12090009\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/IMG_0073.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/IMG_0073-2000x1500.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/IMG_0073-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/IMG_0073-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">More than 30 Waymos became stuck in the only parking area for the fireworks show on July 4, 2026, blocking parking for hours. (Courtesy of Dr. R, AGI Summit 2026)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On the last Fourth of July, thousands of people streamed into the areas around the Golden Gate Bridge to watch a special fireworks show, bringing traffic to a standstill across a large section of the Marina District and surrounding neighborhoods as crowds left en masse.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In the days that followed, city officials said the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12090516/too-much-traffic-not-enough-toilets-sf-city-officials-revisit-fourth-of-july-mishaps\">mess\u003c/a> was caused partly by autonomous vehicles that blocked traffic and drivers who illegally used transit-only lanes.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We have had challenges with autonomous vehicles, and the congestion that they can create sometimes when they brick, for example,” Wise said, referring to when the cars freeze in place. “ We’ve since partnered with them to make sure that we do not have those kind of traffic [disruptions].” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Both Waymo and Zoox said they would comply with the geofence request from the city. The geofence began Friday, Oct. 9 and runs through Sunday, Oct. 11, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Ride-hailing companies like Uber or Lyft are exempt. The increased regulation of autonomous vehicle companies comes as Waymo steadily expands its fleet size in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A spokesperson for the company told KQED there are over 1,300 Waymo vehicles operating in the region — more than quadruple the number when it expanded access to the public in 2024.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The city expects as many as 3,000 people to crowd the Marina Green alone at any given time — 1,000 more people than last year — according to a Fleet Week medical planning memo that San Francisco Supervisor Stephen Sherrill’s office shared with KQED.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>This year’s Fleet Week is likely to be more popular than past years, Sherrill said at a September \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12097824/could-san-francisco-see-july-4-crowds-for-fleet-week-city-leaders-say-not-exactly\">hearing\u003c/a>, partly because the U.S. Navy’s aerobatic team, the Blue Angels, are set to return after last year’s government shutdown canceled them. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The SFMTA is \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfmta.com/travel-updates/fleet-week-october-9-11-2026\">increasing Muni service\u003c/a> on routes that serve the city’s eastern and northern waterfront, where it expects people to watch the Blue Angels. Wise said the agency will have parking control officers in “areas where we expect the most crowding.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Make sure that you take the time to get to the events or wherever it is you’re going in the city,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "waymo-coordination-needed-bill-aims-to-address-autonomous-vehicle-mishaps",
"title": "‘Waymo’ Coordination Needed: Bill Aims to Address Autonomous Vehicle Mishaps",
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"headTitle": "‘Waymo’ Coordination Needed: Bill Aims to Address Autonomous Vehicle Mishaps | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Following a string of Waymo-fueled traffic meltdowns in the Bay Area, a new federal bill aims to improve coordination between \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/waymo\">autonomous vehicle\u003c/a> companies and emergency responders.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Rep. Kevin Mullin, D-San Mateo, announced Tuesday that his proposed legislation will target autonomous vehicles’ ability to navigate emergency situations spurred by unexpected power outages and other unusual traffic conditions.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The technology is remarkable in normal conditions; what I’m concerned about is abnormal conditions,” Mullin said. “These vehicles not only need to evolve their technology to deal with that, but they need to be in direct coordination with our local public safety officials whose job it is to respond appropriately.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Waymo has created a number of headaches for emergency responders in San Francisco — most notably by causing a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12089915/sf-supe-to-launch-inquiry-on-waymos-july-fourth-traffic-meltdown\">“traffic meltdown”\u003c/a> during the city’s Fourth of July celebrations and grinding to a halt during the city’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12074861/waymo-to-report-on-mass-stranding-event-during-sf-december-blackout\">December\u003c/a> power outages. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>These events prompted Mayor Daniel Lurie to send a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12091460/san-francisco-mayor-daniel-lurie-calls-on-state-to-tighten-autonomous-vehicle-regulations\">letter\u003c/a> to the state Secretary of Transportation, asking for new standards for autonomous vehicles, including proof that they are ready for large crowds and unusual traffic patterns. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-2278646743-scaled-e1782502896455.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12086413\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Mayor Daniel Lurie during a news conference on his budget proposal in San Francisco on June 1, 2026. After several traffic meltdowns involving autonomous vehicles, a new bill would focus on improved coordination between driverless car companies and emergency personnel. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://kevinmullin.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/AV-Emergency-Response-Coordination-Act-1.pdf\">bill\u003c/a>, titled the AV Emergency Response Coordination Act\u003cem>,\u003c/em> calls for companies to provide response plans for emergency personnel — and to establish a 24/7 hotline for public officials, according to Mullin’s press release. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If passed, public officials would have a process to geofence areas during emergencies, so that driverless vehicles avoid certain areas while there is an ongoing safety hazard. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration would also be tasked to develop national emergency standards for autonomous vehicle companies. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>At Mullin’s conference on Tuesday, Lurie voiced his support for both the legislation as well as autonomous vehicles in San Francisco. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“San Francisco wants AVs on our streets, and we want them to be here safely,” Lurie said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Since the city was one of the first to incorporate autonomous vehicles into its streets, Lurie continued, it has learned more than “almost any other city about how they operate in a dense, complex urban environment.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Cathy Chase, president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, also spoke Tuesday, demanding higher safety standards for driverless cars. 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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The proposed legislation does not currently provide additional funding for public safety agencies, which will need additional training in order to effectively cooperate with the autonomous vehicle companies — an obstacle that Mullin said he has already recognized. \u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cp>After recent \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12074861/waymo-to-report-on-mass-stranding-event-during-sf-december-blackout\">traffic meltdowns involving Waymo\u003c/a> vehicles \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12089915/sf-supe-to-launch-inquiry-on-waymos-july-fourth-traffic-meltdown\">during major events\u003c/a>, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie is calling on state regulators to set new standards for autonomous vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The mayor sent a letter to state Secretary of Transportation Toks Omishakin on Thursday highlighting the recent traffic jams involving Waymo cars on the Fourth of July and last year during the city’s widespread power outages. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Regulating for typical conditions is no longer enough,” Lurie wrote. “California’s challenge now is not just whether autonomous vehicles can operate safely under normal conditions, but also whether they can perform reliably during extraordinary ones.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Lurie, a moderate Democrat, has championed San Francisco as the birthplace of autonomous vehicles, which he views as a boon to the city’s local economy. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1536\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/IMG_0073.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12090009\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/IMG_0073.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/IMG_0073-2000x1500.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/IMG_0073-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/IMG_0073-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">More than 30 Waymos became stuck in the only parking area for the San Francisco fireworks show on July 4, 2026, blocking parking for hours. (Courtesy of Dr. R, AGI Summit 2026)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Each transportation innovation has evolved over time to meet the needs of a dynamic city,” the mayor wrote. “We believe now is the time for regulators and autonomous vehicle companies to evolve as well.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Criticism after high-profile events like the Fourth of July fireworks display over the Golden Gate Bridge, when dozens of stalled Waymo vehicles delayed traffic, has led him to strike a more tempered tune around Waymo and other self-driving car companies. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Lurie wrote that all autonomous vehicle companies should be able to prove they are ready for large crowds and changing traffic patterns during major events before they are deployed. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Even before the fireworks began, Waymo vehicles struggled to navigate growing volumes of vehicular traffic and pedestrians. By the end of the fireworks show, autonomous vehicles became immobilized in travel lanes, blocking key streets and ultimately bringing traffic to a standstill. Muni shuttles were trapped in the gridlock,” the letter read. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The California Public Utilities Commission and Department of Motor Vehicles regulate autonomous vehicles, and while Lurie’s letter could help generate attention and pressure, he has little authority to set standards for the technology, even in his own city. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The mayor’s letter comes after increasing scrutiny over Waymo traffic disruptions from city supervisors like Bilal Mahmood, who called on the company to report what led to several of their taxis being stranded during a massive blackout in parts of the city last December. He has also submitted a letter of inquiry on the July 4 traffic breakdown. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Supervisor Jackie Fielder also questioned vehicle safety after a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12062777/san-francisco-supervisor-calls-for-robotaxi-reform-after-waymo-kills-neighborhood-cat\">Waymo ran over and killed a local bodega cat\u003c/a> in the Mission District last year, drawing attention to local governments’ lack of control over how autonomous vehicles are deployed. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Waymo appeared before the Board of Supervisors at a public hearing in March, where first responders said the vehicles can pose serious \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12075147/is-waymo-ready-for-another-emergency-san-francisco-supervisors-are-skeptical\">risks to emergency services\u003c/a> by blocking streets.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I just don’t think this is ready right now,” Sam Gebler, president of the local firefighters’ union, said of autonomous vehicle technology. “We have seen situations where they travel in a long line and if the first one doesn’t know what to do, the rest turn into paperweights, and it causes a chain reaction that blocks the road.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A spokesperson for Waymo said the company has successfully supported other major events, such as the NBA All-Star Weekend and FIFA World Cup Games. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The city and Waymo share a mutual goal of providing safe and accessible transportation for visitors and residents alike,” the spokesperson said. “We will continue to partner with the city’s agencies, collaborating with them on the learnings based on the millions of rides we have provided in San Francisco.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The mayor sent a letter to state Secretary of Transportation Toks Omishakin on Thursday highlighting the recent traffic jams involving Waymo cars on the Fourth of July and last year during the city’s widespread power outages. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Regulating for typical conditions is no longer enough,” Lurie wrote. “California’s challenge now is not just whether autonomous vehicles can operate safely under normal conditions, but also whether they can perform reliably during extraordinary ones.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Each transportation innovation has evolved over time to meet the needs of a dynamic city,” the mayor wrote. “We believe now is the time for regulators and autonomous vehicle companies to evolve as well.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Criticism after high-profile events like the Fourth of July fireworks display over the Golden Gate Bridge, when dozens of stalled Waymo vehicles delayed traffic, has led him to strike a more tempered tune around Waymo and other self-driving car companies. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Lurie wrote that all autonomous vehicle companies should be able to prove they are ready for large crowds and changing traffic patterns during major events before they are deployed. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Even before the fireworks began, Waymo vehicles struggled to navigate growing volumes of vehicular traffic and pedestrians. By the end of the fireworks show, autonomous vehicles became immobilized in travel lanes, blocking key streets and ultimately bringing traffic to a standstill. Muni shuttles were trapped in the gridlock,” the letter read. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The California Public Utilities Commission and Department of Motor Vehicles regulate autonomous vehicles, and while Lurie’s letter could help generate attention and pressure, he has little authority to set standards for the technology, even in his own city. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The mayor’s letter comes after increasing scrutiny over Waymo traffic disruptions from city supervisors like Bilal Mahmood, who called on the company to report what led to several of their taxis being stranded during a massive blackout in parts of the city last December. He has also submitted a letter of inquiry on the July 4 traffic breakdown. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I just don’t think this is ready right now,” Sam Gebler, president of the local firefighters’ union, said of autonomous vehicle technology. “We have seen situations where they travel in a long line and if the first one doesn’t know what to do, the rest turn into paperweights, and it causes a chain reaction that blocks the road.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“The city and Waymo share a mutual goal of providing safe and accessible transportation for visitors and residents alike,” the spokesperson said. “We will continue to partner with the city’s agencies, collaborating with them on the learnings based on the millions of rides we have provided in San Francisco.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Lurie’s letter to the state transportation secretary comes just weeks after a massive backup of stalled Waymo vehicles snarled the city’s Fourth of July festivities. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Criticism after high-profile events like the Fourth of July fireworks display over the Golden Gate Bridge, when dozens of stalled Waymo vehicles delayed traffic, has led him to strike a more tempered tune around Waymo and other self-driving car companies. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Lurie wrote that all autonomous vehicle companies should be able to prove they are ready for large crowds and changing traffic patterns during major events before they are deployed. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Even before the fireworks began, Waymo vehicles struggled to navigate growing volumes of vehicular traffic and pedestrians. By the end of the fireworks show, autonomous vehicles became immobilized in travel lanes, blocking key streets and ultimately bringing traffic to a standstill. Muni shuttles were trapped in the gridlock,” the letter read. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The California Public Utilities Commission and Department of Motor Vehicles regulate autonomous vehicles, and while Lurie’s letter could help generate attention and pressure, he has little authority to set standards for the technology, even in his own city. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The mayor’s letter comes after increasing scrutiny over Waymo traffic disruptions from city supervisors like Bilal Mahmood, who called on the company to report what led to several of their taxis being stranded during a massive blackout in parts of the city last December. He has also submitted a letter of inquiry on the July 4 traffic breakdown. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Supervisor Jackie Fielder also questioned vehicle safety after a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12062777/san-francisco-supervisor-calls-for-robotaxi-reform-after-waymo-kills-neighborhood-cat\">Waymo ran over and killed a local bodega cat\u003c/a> in the Mission District last year, drawing attention to local governments’ lack of control over how autonomous vehicles are deployed. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Waymo appeared before the Board of Supervisors at a public hearing in March, where first responders said the vehicles can pose serious \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12075147/is-waymo-ready-for-another-emergency-san-francisco-supervisors-are-skeptical\">risks to emergency services\u003c/a> by blocking streets.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I just don’t think this is ready right now,” Sam Gebler, president of the local firefighters’ union, said of autonomous vehicle technology. “We have seen situations where they travel in a long line and if the first one doesn’t know what to do, the rest turn into paperweights, and it causes a chain reaction that blocks the road.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A spokesperson for Waymo said the company has successfully supported other major events, such as the NBA All-Star Weekend and FIFA World Cup Games. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The city and Waymo share a mutual goal of providing safe and accessible transportation for visitors and residents alike,” the spokesperson said. “We will continue to partner with the city’s agencies, collaborating with them on the learnings based on the millions of rides we have provided in San Francisco.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Following \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12089906/san-franciscos-fireworks-show-lights-up-karl-the-fog-for-americas-250th\">San Francisco’s Fourth of July\u003c/a> traffic meltdown, one supervisor is demanding answers from city departments about how autonomous vehicle companies like Waymo and “insufficient transit options” contributed to the gridlock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supervisor Bilal Mahmood told KQED on Monday he planned to submit a letter of inquiry at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, seeking information from the city’s Department of Emergency Management, Fire Department, and Municipal Transportation Agency on how autonomous vehicles impacted public transit service, emergency response and egress from an event that far exceeded attendance expectations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 100,000 people descended on the northern part of the city for the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12089906/san-franciscos-fireworks-show-lights-up-karl-the-fog-for-americas-250th\">special Golden Gate Bridge fireworks show\u003c/a>, according to Charles Lutvak, spokesperson for San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Social media \u003ca href=\"https://www.reddit.com/r/sanfrancisco/comments/1unuji7/the_july_4th_waymo_traffic_nightmare/\">posts \u003c/a>from people who ventured to the northern end of the city to view the fireworks described a “Waymo traffic nightmare,” where dozens of robotaxis blocked traffic, leading to lengthy delays.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mahmood said due to the backlog of cars in part caused by Waymo, he was forced to walk an hour home from Fisherman’s Wharf, as public transit and rideshare were rendered useless.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was clear that they were compounding an already congested traffic situation and weren’t moving themselves,” Mahmood said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12090009\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2048px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12090009\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/IMG_0073.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1536\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/IMG_0073.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/IMG_0073-2000x1500.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/IMG_0073-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/IMG_0073-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">More than 30 Waymos became stuck in the only parking area for the fireworks show on July 4, 2026, blocking parking for hours. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Dr. R, AGI Summit 2026)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Waymo declined to provide specific numbers on how many of its vehicles experienced issues or needed to be manually moved by staff on the night of the Fourth, but said some vehicles were caught in gridlock in select streets in the Presidio.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company said that while many vehicles were able to navigate away when congestion cleared, others ran out of charge while idling and required a tow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“On July Fourth, extreme traffic congestion in northern San Francisco disrupted normal operations for several Waymo vehicles. In coordination with local authorities and emergency services, our roadside assistance team worked quickly to clear our vehicles from the area,” Waymo spokesperson Chris Bonelli said.[aside postID=news_12075147 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260302-WAYMOOUTAGEREPORT-23-BL-KQED.jpg']The action comes as city leaders attempt to identify how the traffic jam turned the aftermath of the national holiday into an hours-long slog for spectators trying to return to their homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Making my way home from Aquatic Park I think had to be my worst public transportation experience of my life,” said Stella Lochman, a 41-year-old San Francisco resident and self-described experienced Muni rider.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lochman said around 11 p.m. on the Fourth of July, after waiting for the crowds to die down, she decided to take the 49 Van Ness/Mission bus home. She recalls waiting 35 minutes for the bus to come to a stop near Fort Mason, and when she was finally able to board the bus, she popped in an audiobook and settled in for the ride.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When she looked up 45 minutes later, she realized the bus had traveled less than one block. Lochman described a scene where drivers flouted traffic laws, contributing to delays for public transit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was no one to control the traffic, so you had to be sneaky. And then the sneaky people were causing more traffic,” Lochman said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lochman said the entire bus was forced to deboard a few blocks later after a car sideswiped it. She then walked several blocks and caught a special Muni shuttle to Powell Street station.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By then it was 1:45 a.m., so she decided to ride bikeshare home, even though one of her arms is in a sling due to a broken shoulder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iealiNVFzik\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In total, she said the three-mile journey from Aquatic Park to her home in the Mission District took three hours. She said a friend who drove home to Pinole got home faster than her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you can get to Pinole faster than you can get to 16th and Mission, what is that teaching folks?” Lochman said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Monday, leaders of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, which operates Muni, apologized for the delays and said they would study what could have been done better to ensure the city can deliver on special events in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ We did everything we could to move as many people as possible and made adjustments in the field to our transit operations to pull additional service in to get people home as quickly as we possibly could,” said Viktoriya Wise, director of SFMTA’s streets division.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Wise said the location of the event, at the far north-western corner of the city, was in a constrained area where transit is not as robust as places like downtown San Francisco or Pier 39. That made it a “very high mountain to climb,” according to Wise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our transportation system simply could not handle the volume of people that arrived in San Francisco on Saturday,” Wise said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ahead of the event, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie encouraged people to take public transportation, walk, bike, or use ride-hailing services to see the fireworks, and he warned of delays getting out of the area and the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12086413\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12086413\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-2278646743-scaled-e1782502896455.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mayor Daniel Lurie during a news conference on his budget proposal in San Francisco on June 1, 2026. \u003ccite>(Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We understand that with more than 100,000 people in the area, some people experienced delays getting home, and we will have conversations with our public and private partners to ensure the experience is smoother next time,” Lutvak said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mahmood is requesting city departments respond to his letter of inquiry within two weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not acceptable that disruption of service, first responders and our public transit system is a side effect of autonomous vehicles on the road,” Mahmood said. “They have to be able to function within our existing transit infrastructure, and we still don’t have a large event protocol that clearly is working, and that’s something that I expect.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Following \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12089906/san-franciscos-fireworks-show-lights-up-karl-the-fog-for-americas-250th\">San Francisco’s Fourth of July\u003c/a> traffic meltdown, one supervisor is demanding answers from city departments about how autonomous vehicle companies like Waymo and “insufficient transit options” contributed to the gridlock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supervisor Bilal Mahmood told KQED on Monday he planned to submit a letter of inquiry at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, seeking information from the city’s Department of Emergency Management, Fire Department, and Municipal Transportation Agency on how autonomous vehicles impacted public transit service, emergency response and egress from an event that far exceeded attendance expectations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 100,000 people descended on the northern part of the city for the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12089906/san-franciscos-fireworks-show-lights-up-karl-the-fog-for-americas-250th\">special Golden Gate Bridge fireworks show\u003c/a>, according to Charles Lutvak, spokesperson for San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Social media \u003ca href=\"https://www.reddit.com/r/sanfrancisco/comments/1unuji7/the_july_4th_waymo_traffic_nightmare/\">posts \u003c/a>from people who ventured to the northern end of the city to view the fireworks described a “Waymo traffic nightmare,” where dozens of robotaxis blocked traffic, leading to lengthy delays.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mahmood said due to the backlog of cars in part caused by Waymo, he was forced to walk an hour home from Fisherman’s Wharf, as public transit and rideshare were rendered useless.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was clear that they were compounding an already congested traffic situation and weren’t moving themselves,” Mahmood said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12090009\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2048px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12090009\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/IMG_0073.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1536\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/IMG_0073.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/IMG_0073-2000x1500.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/IMG_0073-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/IMG_0073-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">More than 30 Waymos became stuck in the only parking area for the fireworks show on July 4, 2026, blocking parking for hours. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Dr. R, AGI Summit 2026)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Waymo declined to provide specific numbers on how many of its vehicles experienced issues or needed to be manually moved by staff on the night of the Fourth, but said some vehicles were caught in gridlock in select streets in the Presidio.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company said that while many vehicles were able to navigate away when congestion cleared, others ran out of charge while idling and required a tow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“On July Fourth, extreme traffic congestion in northern San Francisco disrupted normal operations for several Waymo vehicles. In coordination with local authorities and emergency services, our roadside assistance team worked quickly to clear our vehicles from the area,” Waymo spokesperson Chris Bonelli said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The action comes as city leaders attempt to identify how the traffic jam turned the aftermath of the national holiday into an hours-long slog for spectators trying to return to their homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Making my way home from Aquatic Park I think had to be my worst public transportation experience of my life,” said Stella Lochman, a 41-year-old San Francisco resident and self-described experienced Muni rider.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lochman said around 11 p.m. on the Fourth of July, after waiting for the crowds to die down, she decided to take the 49 Van Ness/Mission bus home. She recalls waiting 35 minutes for the bus to come to a stop near Fort Mason, and when she was finally able to board the bus, she popped in an audiobook and settled in for the ride.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When she looked up 45 minutes later, she realized the bus had traveled less than one block. Lochman described a scene where drivers flouted traffic laws, contributing to delays for public transit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was no one to control the traffic, so you had to be sneaky. And then the sneaky people were causing more traffic,” Lochman said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lochman said the entire bus was forced to deboard a few blocks later after a car sideswiped it. She then walked several blocks and caught a special Muni shuttle to Powell Street station.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By then it was 1:45 a.m., so she decided to ride bikeshare home, even though one of her arms is in a sling due to a broken shoulder.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/iealiNVFzik'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/iealiNVFzik'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>In total, she said the three-mile journey from Aquatic Park to her home in the Mission District took three hours. She said a friend who drove home to Pinole got home faster than her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you can get to Pinole faster than you can get to 16th and Mission, what is that teaching folks?” Lochman said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Monday, leaders of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, which operates Muni, apologized for the delays and said they would study what could have been done better to ensure the city can deliver on special events in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ We did everything we could to move as many people as possible and made adjustments in the field to our transit operations to pull additional service in to get people home as quickly as we possibly could,” said Viktoriya Wise, director of SFMTA’s streets division.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Wise said the location of the event, at the far north-western corner of the city, was in a constrained area where transit is not as robust as places like downtown San Francisco or Pier 39. That made it a “very high mountain to climb,” according to Wise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our transportation system simply could not handle the volume of people that arrived in San Francisco on Saturday,” Wise said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ahead of the event, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie encouraged people to take public transportation, walk, bike, or use ride-hailing services to see the fireworks, and he warned of delays getting out of the area and the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12086413\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12086413\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-2278646743-scaled-e1782502896455.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mayor Daniel Lurie during a news conference on his budget proposal in San Francisco on June 1, 2026. \u003ccite>(Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We understand that with more than 100,000 people in the area, some people experienced delays getting home, and we will have conversations with our public and private partners to ensure the experience is smoother next time,” Lutvak said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mahmood is requesting city departments respond to his letter of inquiry within two weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not acceptable that disruption of service, first responders and our public transit system is a side effect of autonomous vehicles on the road,” Mahmood said. “They have to be able to function within our existing transit infrastructure, and we still don’t have a large event protocol that clearly is working, and that’s something that I expect.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>As a fire at a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/pge\">PG&E\u003c/a> substation plunged a third of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a> into darkness on the evening of Dec. 20, one of the city’s 911 dispatchers sat on hold with Waymo’s first responder hotline for 53 minutes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company’s systems had become overwhelmed with requests from the more than 1,500 confused robotaxis trying to navigate intersections without functioning traffic signals, rendering them inoperable for two minutes or more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How the stalled Waymos complicated the city’s emergency response efforts and what measures the company is putting in place to prevent service stoppages during a future emergency were the subject of a meeting of the city’s Land Use and Transportation Committee on Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In it, representatives from city departments revealed the severity of Waymo’s service outage and its effect on the city, which lasted overnight and into the next day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Department of Emergency Management Executive Director Mary Ellen Carroll, whose department staffs the city’s 911 dispatch center, said she lost sleep over the incident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ I definitely stay awake at night thinking about things that could happen and how do we integrate this new technology into our emergency response,” Carroll told city supervisors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12075233\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12075233\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260302-WaymoOutageReport-24-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260302-WaymoOutageReport-24-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260302-WaymoOutageReport-24-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260302-WaymoOutageReport-24-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mary Ellen Carroll, executive director of the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management, speaks during a Board of Supervisors hearing on Waymo’s emergency operations at City Hall in San Francisco on March 2, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Broadly, representatives from Waymo apologized for the inconveniences their vehicles caused that day and said they were putting in place safeguards to prevent a similar service outage from happening again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ I want to be very clear that Waymo takes full responsibility for the communication gaps that occurred that evening,” said Sam Cooper, the program manager for incident response at Waymo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it did little to mollify some supervisors, who expressed ire over stalled Waymos blocking intersections and the path of emergency vehicles, a problem that sometimes required intervention by first responders. The hearing came just a day after a \u003ca href=\"https://www.axios.com/local/austin/2026/03/02/waymo-vehicle-blocks-ems-austin-mass-shooting\">Waymo blocked an ambulance\u003c/a> responding to a mass shooting in Austin, Texas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Patrick Rabbitt, the deputy chief of operations for the San Francisco Fire Department, said firefighters can call Waymo and request a remote operator to move a stalled vehicle, but they can’t always reach the company by phone, and sometimes the remote operators are unable to move the vehicle, requiring first responders to do it themselves.[aside postID=news_12074861 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/250730-waymofile_00306_TV_qed.jpg']Waymo spokesperson Ethan Teicher told KQED Waymo is aware of 62 manual retrievals of its stalled vehicles during the blackout, which were done by Waymo’s own roadside assistance or tow trucks. In two instances, he said, first responders had to manually move a Waymo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carroll and other city leaders lamented that when that happens, it forces valuable first responders to become “default roadside assistance.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ Anything that brings a high volume of calls to 911 can delay our response time for people that have true life-and-death situations,” Caroll said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The main reason for the service stoppage, according to Waymo, was a high number of remote assistance requests generated by the vehicles attempting to navigate intersections without functioning streetlights, although the company did note that its vehicles traversed 7,000 darkened intersections during the blackout without incident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cars idled as they waited for their remote assistance requests to be fulfilled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Remote assistance requests are handled by operators located in countries as far away as the Philippines, who can provide guidance to the autonomous vehicles. The company said it currently employs 70 remote operators, who are responsible for handling requests from its fleet of about 3,000 vehicles across the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Supervisor Bilal Mahmood was incredulous that Waymo representatives didn’t think the location or number of remote operators would be an issue in future emergencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we’re reliant in an emergency situation on operators in the Philippines to have to assess the condition here, how can you explain or justify that?” Mahmood asked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12075118\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12075118\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260302-WAYMOOUTAGEREPORT-30-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260302-WAYMOOUTAGEREPORT-30-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260302-WAYMOOUTAGEREPORT-30-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260302-WAYMOOUTAGEREPORT-30-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chinmay Jain, director of product management at Waymo, speaks during a Board of Supervisors hearing on Waymo’s emergency operations at City Hall in San Francisco on March 2, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Chinmay Jain, Waymo’s director of product management, said the location of the remote assistants “had no implications” in the San Francisco power outage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ We do a very detailed analysis on the demand for such requests, and hence, have these dynamic systems where we can increase the supply of remote assistance accordingly,” Jain said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Cooper said the company did change its practices in response to the December outage in other ways. Waymo rolled out fleet-wide updates that allow its vehicles to better navigate intersections without working traffic signals, revised how its operations team responds to power outage events, and improved its staffing capabilities during significant incidents, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the representatives largely dodged questions from supervisors seeking explicit commitments. Cooper said he could not provide numbers at the time on the number of additional staff the company had hired to handle surges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management and Fire Department recommended integrating their “avoid the area” notifications with Waymo software to prevent the driverless cars from entering emergency response zones, but Cooper said he couldn’t commit to that in the meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12075116\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12075116\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260302-WAYMOOUTAGEREPORT-13-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260302-WAYMOOUTAGEREPORT-13-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260302-WAYMOOUTAGEREPORT-13-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260302-WAYMOOUTAGEREPORT-13-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gig workers, union members and labor advocates fill a Board of Supervisors meeting at City Hall in San Francisco on March 2, 2026, to discuss Waymo’s emergency operations following a December power outage that left the company’s autonomous vehicles stalled on city streets. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“ We’re absolutely willing to have the conversations at the conclusion of this hearing to make sure that we are hearing everyone on the table,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Local unions and gig workers for Uber and Lyft hosted a rally on the steps of City Hall before the meeting, calling for greater regulation of Waymo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ We just want to be part of the conversation and make sure that these vehicles operate safely in emergencies. We can’t have roads being blocked,” said Sam Gebler, the president of San Francisco Firefighters Local 798.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The meeting also featured lengthy public comment with many speakers largely expressing their opposition to Waymo over safety and other concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kristin Hardy, the regional vice president of SEIU 1021, read a statement written by her daughter, who said her dog, Leo, was hit and killed by a Waymo in the city’s Western Addition neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12075120\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12075120\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260302-WAYMOOUTAGEREPORT-42-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260302-WAYMOOUTAGEREPORT-42-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260302-WAYMOOUTAGEREPORT-42-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260302-WAYMOOUTAGEREPORT-42-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kristin Hardy, region vice president for SEIU 1021, speaks on behalf of her daughter, Kayla Craig, whose dog, Leo, had to be put down after being hit by a Waymo, during a Board of Supervisors hearing on Waymo’s emergency operations at City Hall in San Francisco on March 2, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“When a self-driving car makes a mistake, who suffers? Not the company, not the executives, the community does. Safety should never come second. It should never be tested on real people in real time,” Hardy said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Waymo said its vehicles have shown an 88% reduction in serious injury-or-worse crashes compared to human drivers in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That safety record, however, came into question last year when \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12062777/san-francisco-supervisor-calls-for-robotaxi-reform-after-waymo-kills-neighborhood-cat\">one of its vehicles ran over a beloved bodega cat in the city’s Mission District\u003c/a>.[aside postID=news_12071764 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/WaymoLosAngelesGetty.jpg']The incident sparked calls by city Supervisor Jackie Fielder for more local control over autonomous vehicle regulations, but she has yet to introduce a resolution that could drive that process forward. Most of the jurisdiction for regulating Waymo currently sits with state agencies, not San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Casting a long shadow over the meeting is AB 1777, a 2024 state law that by July 1 of this year will require, among other things, that autonomous vehicle operators staff a phone line that allows first responders to reach a human operator within \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1777\">30 seconds\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The gulf between the 30 seconds that the law requires and the 50 minutes that we heard about today is massive,” Mahmood said. “The results of today show that there are dire consequences if we don’t get public safety right.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Speaking to KQED on Tuesday at a separate event, Supervisor Myrna Melgar said she was “disappointed that Waymo had no answers at all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ I feel like their whole support infrastructure — it is not adequate for disaster preparedness,” Melgar said. “It’s adequate for the day-to-day. So I hope this prompts them to rethink that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Editor’s Note: This story was updated to clarify the number of times first responders had to manually move a Waymo during the December power outage.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Representatives from Waymo answered questions about cars left inoperable during a recent blackout and promised changes. Supervisors weren’t convinced those promises were sufficient.",
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"title": "Is Waymo Ready for Another Emergency? San Francisco Supervisors Are Skeptical | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As a fire at a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/pge\">PG&E\u003c/a> substation plunged a third of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a> into darkness on the evening of Dec. 20, one of the city’s 911 dispatchers sat on hold with Waymo’s first responder hotline for 53 minutes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company’s systems had become overwhelmed with requests from the more than 1,500 confused robotaxis trying to navigate intersections without functioning traffic signals, rendering them inoperable for two minutes or more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How the stalled Waymos complicated the city’s emergency response efforts and what measures the company is putting in place to prevent service stoppages during a future emergency were the subject of a meeting of the city’s Land Use and Transportation Committee on Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In it, representatives from city departments revealed the severity of Waymo’s service outage and its effect on the city, which lasted overnight and into the next day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Department of Emergency Management Executive Director Mary Ellen Carroll, whose department staffs the city’s 911 dispatch center, said she lost sleep over the incident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ I definitely stay awake at night thinking about things that could happen and how do we integrate this new technology into our emergency response,” Carroll told city supervisors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12075233\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12075233\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260302-WaymoOutageReport-24-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260302-WaymoOutageReport-24-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260302-WaymoOutageReport-24-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260302-WaymoOutageReport-24-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mary Ellen Carroll, executive director of the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management, speaks during a Board of Supervisors hearing on Waymo’s emergency operations at City Hall in San Francisco on March 2, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Broadly, representatives from Waymo apologized for the inconveniences their vehicles caused that day and said they were putting in place safeguards to prevent a similar service outage from happening again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ I want to be very clear that Waymo takes full responsibility for the communication gaps that occurred that evening,” said Sam Cooper, the program manager for incident response at Waymo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it did little to mollify some supervisors, who expressed ire over stalled Waymos blocking intersections and the path of emergency vehicles, a problem that sometimes required intervention by first responders. The hearing came just a day after a \u003ca href=\"https://www.axios.com/local/austin/2026/03/02/waymo-vehicle-blocks-ems-austin-mass-shooting\">Waymo blocked an ambulance\u003c/a> responding to a mass shooting in Austin, Texas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Patrick Rabbitt, the deputy chief of operations for the San Francisco Fire Department, said firefighters can call Waymo and request a remote operator to move a stalled vehicle, but they can’t always reach the company by phone, and sometimes the remote operators are unable to move the vehicle, requiring first responders to do it themselves.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Waymo spokesperson Ethan Teicher told KQED Waymo is aware of 62 manual retrievals of its stalled vehicles during the blackout, which were done by Waymo’s own roadside assistance or tow trucks. In two instances, he said, first responders had to manually move a Waymo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carroll and other city leaders lamented that when that happens, it forces valuable first responders to become “default roadside assistance.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ Anything that brings a high volume of calls to 911 can delay our response time for people that have true life-and-death situations,” Caroll said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The main reason for the service stoppage, according to Waymo, was a high number of remote assistance requests generated by the vehicles attempting to navigate intersections without functioning streetlights, although the company did note that its vehicles traversed 7,000 darkened intersections during the blackout without incident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cars idled as they waited for their remote assistance requests to be fulfilled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Remote assistance requests are handled by operators located in countries as far away as the Philippines, who can provide guidance to the autonomous vehicles. The company said it currently employs 70 remote operators, who are responsible for handling requests from its fleet of about 3,000 vehicles across the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Supervisor Bilal Mahmood was incredulous that Waymo representatives didn’t think the location or number of remote operators would be an issue in future emergencies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we’re reliant in an emergency situation on operators in the Philippines to have to assess the condition here, how can you explain or justify that?” Mahmood asked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12075118\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12075118\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260302-WAYMOOUTAGEREPORT-30-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260302-WAYMOOUTAGEREPORT-30-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260302-WAYMOOUTAGEREPORT-30-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260302-WAYMOOUTAGEREPORT-30-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chinmay Jain, director of product management at Waymo, speaks during a Board of Supervisors hearing on Waymo’s emergency operations at City Hall in San Francisco on March 2, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Chinmay Jain, Waymo’s director of product management, said the location of the remote assistants “had no implications” in the San Francisco power outage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ We do a very detailed analysis on the demand for such requests, and hence, have these dynamic systems where we can increase the supply of remote assistance accordingly,” Jain said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Cooper said the company did change its practices in response to the December outage in other ways. Waymo rolled out fleet-wide updates that allow its vehicles to better navigate intersections without working traffic signals, revised how its operations team responds to power outage events, and improved its staffing capabilities during significant incidents, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the representatives largely dodged questions from supervisors seeking explicit commitments. Cooper said he could not provide numbers at the time on the number of additional staff the company had hired to handle surges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management and Fire Department recommended integrating their “avoid the area” notifications with Waymo software to prevent the driverless cars from entering emergency response zones, but Cooper said he couldn’t commit to that in the meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12075116\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12075116\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260302-WAYMOOUTAGEREPORT-13-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260302-WAYMOOUTAGEREPORT-13-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260302-WAYMOOUTAGEREPORT-13-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260302-WAYMOOUTAGEREPORT-13-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gig workers, union members and labor advocates fill a Board of Supervisors meeting at City Hall in San Francisco on March 2, 2026, to discuss Waymo’s emergency operations following a December power outage that left the company’s autonomous vehicles stalled on city streets. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“ We’re absolutely willing to have the conversations at the conclusion of this hearing to make sure that we are hearing everyone on the table,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Local unions and gig workers for Uber and Lyft hosted a rally on the steps of City Hall before the meeting, calling for greater regulation of Waymo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ We just want to be part of the conversation and make sure that these vehicles operate safely in emergencies. We can’t have roads being blocked,” said Sam Gebler, the president of San Francisco Firefighters Local 798.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The meeting also featured lengthy public comment with many speakers largely expressing their opposition to Waymo over safety and other concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kristin Hardy, the regional vice president of SEIU 1021, read a statement written by her daughter, who said her dog, Leo, was hit and killed by a Waymo in the city’s Western Addition neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12075120\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12075120\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260302-WAYMOOUTAGEREPORT-42-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260302-WAYMOOUTAGEREPORT-42-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260302-WAYMOOUTAGEREPORT-42-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260302-WAYMOOUTAGEREPORT-42-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kristin Hardy, region vice president for SEIU 1021, speaks on behalf of her daughter, Kayla Craig, whose dog, Leo, had to be put down after being hit by a Waymo, during a Board of Supervisors hearing on Waymo’s emergency operations at City Hall in San Francisco on March 2, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“When a self-driving car makes a mistake, who suffers? Not the company, not the executives, the community does. Safety should never come second. It should never be tested on real people in real time,” Hardy said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Waymo said its vehicles have shown an 88% reduction in serious injury-or-worse crashes compared to human drivers in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That safety record, however, came into question last year when \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12062777/san-francisco-supervisor-calls-for-robotaxi-reform-after-waymo-kills-neighborhood-cat\">one of its vehicles ran over a beloved bodega cat in the city’s Mission District\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The incident sparked calls by city Supervisor Jackie Fielder for more local control over autonomous vehicle regulations, but she has yet to introduce a resolution that could drive that process forward. Most of the jurisdiction for regulating Waymo currently sits with state agencies, not San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Casting a long shadow over the meeting is AB 1777, a 2024 state law that by July 1 of this year will require, among other things, that autonomous vehicle operators staff a phone line that allows first responders to reach a human operator within \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1777\">30 seconds\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The gulf between the 30 seconds that the law requires and the 50 minutes that we heard about today is massive,” Mahmood said. “The results of today show that there are dire consequences if we don’t get public safety right.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Speaking to KQED on Tuesday at a separate event, Supervisor Myrna Melgar said she was “disappointed that Waymo had no answers at all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ I feel like their whole support infrastructure — it is not adequate for disaster preparedness,” Melgar said. “It’s adequate for the day-to-day. So I hope this prompts them to rethink that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Editor’s Note: This story was updated to clarify the number of times first responders had to manually move a Waymo during the December power outage.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>San Francisco supervisors want Waymo to explain why a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12068177/pge-outage-leaves-130000-across-san-francisco-without-power\">widespread power outage\u003c/a> last December caused a mass-stranding of their robotaxis, and what they’re doing to prevent future meltdowns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Calling for greater accountability, San Francisco District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood told the company to report to City Hall on Monday and explain what caused vehicles to fail during the mass blackout.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The purpose of the hearing is to get answers from Waymo about what were the causes of the technical failure for some of their vehicles that day,” Mahmood said, “and simultaneously, what are they doing to prevent this from happening again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Dec. 20, a fire at a PG&E substation plunged over 130,000 of the utility’s customers — about a third of the city — into darkness. The blackout also disabled many of the city’s traffic lights, which in turn rendered many of Waymo’s self-driving cars nonfunctional.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cars idled in the streets and blocked traffic as the company’s network became overwhelmed with assistance requests from the robotic cars. Waymo’s outage lasted into the next day, while some San Franciscans remained without power for days longer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12040902\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12040902\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/GETTYIMAGES-1788126569-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/GETTYIMAGES-1788126569-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/GETTYIMAGES-1788126569-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/GETTYIMAGES-1788126569-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/GETTYIMAGES-1788126569-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/GETTYIMAGES-1788126569-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/GETTYIMAGES-1788126569-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Waymo autonomous vehicle on Steiner Street in San Francisco on Nov. 17, 2023. \u003ccite>(Jason Henry/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Mahmood, who recalls seeing traffic snarled as the robotaxis blocked darkened intersections in the city, said the impaired Waymo’s complicated emergency response efforts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ The stalled Waymos were actually disrupting emergency vehicles from accessing the PG&E substation that caused the fire in the first place,” said Mahmood, who is sponsoring Monday’s meeting of the Land Use and Transportation Committee, where Waymo is set to report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Waymo did not respond to KQED’s request for comment. But, \u003ca href=\"https://waymo.com/blog/2025/12/autonomously-navigating-the-real-world\">in a blog post\u003c/a> shortly after the incident, representatives from the company said its cars successfully traversed over 7,000 dark signals during the initial stages of the power outage. Waymo representatives, however, have so far remained tight-lipped about the actual number of cars affected, with a lawyer for the company telling an administrative judge in January that the information was a “trade secret,” \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/waymo-power-outage-21286323.php\">according to reporting from the \u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em>\u003c/a>.[aside postID=news_12071764 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/WaymoLosAngelesGetty.jpg']In the December blog post, Waymo representatives wrote, “the scale of the outage and the sheer number of disabled traffic lights were the primary contributors to city-wide gridlock,” adding that it has taken steps to improve the company’s operations during future blackouts by updating software to respond to outages and changing the company’s emergency preparedness and response policies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mahmood said during the December outage, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie had to personally call company leaders to get them to move the cars and allow emergency vehicles to access the burning substation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While regulation of Waymo is largely handled at the state level, out of the jurisdiction of the city’s Board of Supervisors, Mahmood said the purpose of the informational hearing is to hold Waymo publicly accountable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He added that at a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12073229/san-francisco-supervisors-probe-pge-after-widespread-winter-power-outages\">recent meeting\u003c/a> meant to hold PG&E to account for the substation fire and resulting power outage, he revealed previously undisclosed facts about the company’s response and has allowed the city to put pressure on the utility to make changes to its protocols.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ We need to make sure that there is a precedent for good, sustainable emergency vehicle response, and what we saw in December [from Waymo] was not a good response,” Mahmood said. “The purpose of this hearing is to also to set an example to other companies, that if they want to do business in San Francisco, they have to make sure that they have the right procedures in place.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>San Francisco supervisors want Waymo to explain why a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12068177/pge-outage-leaves-130000-across-san-francisco-without-power\">widespread power outage\u003c/a> last December caused a mass-stranding of their robotaxis, and what they’re doing to prevent future meltdowns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Calling for greater accountability, San Francisco District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood told the company to report to City Hall on Monday and explain what caused vehicles to fail during the mass blackout.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The purpose of the hearing is to get answers from Waymo about what were the causes of the technical failure for some of their vehicles that day,” Mahmood said, “and simultaneously, what are they doing to prevent this from happening again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Dec. 20, a fire at a PG&E substation plunged over 130,000 of the utility’s customers — about a third of the city — into darkness. The blackout also disabled many of the city’s traffic lights, which in turn rendered many of Waymo’s self-driving cars nonfunctional.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cars idled in the streets and blocked traffic as the company’s network became overwhelmed with assistance requests from the robotic cars. Waymo’s outage lasted into the next day, while some San Franciscans remained without power for days longer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12040902\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12040902\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/GETTYIMAGES-1788126569-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/GETTYIMAGES-1788126569-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/GETTYIMAGES-1788126569-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/GETTYIMAGES-1788126569-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/GETTYIMAGES-1788126569-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/GETTYIMAGES-1788126569-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/GETTYIMAGES-1788126569-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Waymo autonomous vehicle on Steiner Street in San Francisco on Nov. 17, 2023. \u003ccite>(Jason Henry/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Mahmood, who recalls seeing traffic snarled as the robotaxis blocked darkened intersections in the city, said the impaired Waymo’s complicated emergency response efforts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ The stalled Waymos were actually disrupting emergency vehicles from accessing the PG&E substation that caused the fire in the first place,” said Mahmood, who is sponsoring Monday’s meeting of the Land Use and Transportation Committee, where Waymo is set to report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Waymo did not respond to KQED’s request for comment. But, \u003ca href=\"https://waymo.com/blog/2025/12/autonomously-navigating-the-real-world\">in a blog post\u003c/a> shortly after the incident, representatives from the company said its cars successfully traversed over 7,000 dark signals during the initial stages of the power outage. Waymo representatives, however, have so far remained tight-lipped about the actual number of cars affected, with a lawyer for the company telling an administrative judge in January that the information was a “trade secret,” \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/waymo-power-outage-21286323.php\">according to reporting from the \u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In the December blog post, Waymo representatives wrote, “the scale of the outage and the sheer number of disabled traffic lights were the primary contributors to city-wide gridlock,” adding that it has taken steps to improve the company’s operations during future blackouts by updating software to respond to outages and changing the company’s emergency preparedness and response policies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mahmood said during the December outage, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie had to personally call company leaders to get them to move the cars and allow emergency vehicles to access the burning substation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While regulation of Waymo is largely handled at the state level, out of the jurisdiction of the city’s Board of Supervisors, Mahmood said the purpose of the informational hearing is to hold Waymo publicly accountable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He added that at a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12073229/san-francisco-supervisors-probe-pge-after-widespread-winter-power-outages\">recent meeting\u003c/a> meant to hold PG&E to account for the substation fire and resulting power outage, he revealed previously undisclosed facts about the company’s response and has allowed the city to put pressure on the utility to make changes to its protocols.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ We need to make sure that there is a precedent for good, sustainable emergency vehicle response, and what we saw in December [from Waymo] was not a good response,” Mahmood said. “The purpose of this hearing is to also to set an example to other companies, that if they want to do business in San Francisco, they have to make sure that they have the right procedures in place.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In this edition of The Bay’s monthly news roundup, we discuss the effect of the booming AI industry on San Francisco’s rental market, Rep.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Jared Huffman’s visit to his “radically redrawn” district since the passage of Prop. 50\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, and reactions to the revelation that Waymo employs remote workers in the Philippines. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Links: \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://missionlocal.org/2026/02/san-francisc-rents-ai-boom-tenants/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">AI is pushing S.F. rents higher and higher. Here’s how tenants are dealing\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (Mission Local)\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/joegarofoli/article/jared-huffman-prop-50-21305767.php\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In his radically redrawn new district, a Marin congressman gets thrown to the wolves\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (San Francisco Chronicle)\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://futurism.com/advanced-transport/waymo-remote-operators\">Here’s How Many Remote Operators Waymo Has Per Self-Driving Taxi\u003c/a> (Futurism)\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\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=KQINC3782178423&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco-Northern California Local.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:00:04] I’m Ericka Cruz Guevara, and welcome to The Bay, local news to keep you rooted. And welcome to the Bay’s February News Roundup, where we dig into some of the other headlines that have piqued our interest this month. I’m joined today by producer Jessica Kariisa. What’s up, Jessica?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jessica Kariisa \u003c/strong>[00:00:21] Hey, Ericka.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:00:22] And our special guest this month is Izzy Bloom, reporter and producer on KQBD’s politics desk. Thank you so much for joining me, Izzy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Izzy Bloom \u003c/strong>[00:00:29] Thanks for having me\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:00:32] So this month, February, I feel like I’ve been thinking about just what a privilege it is to be from the Bay Area, to live in the Bay area. We had Super Bowl this month. And we also had, of course, our shining star, Alysa Liu win the gold at the Olympics. And yeah, I’ve just been thinking about that a lot, just very proud to be living here, from here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Izzy Bloom \u003c/strong>[00:00:59] Oh yeah, I loved watching her performance and she’s just like so joyful. Yeah.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:04] I feel like she just represents the Bay Area so well. The way she carries herself, her look, evens very Bay Area to me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jessica Kariisa \u003c/strong>[00:01:13] Her hair is so iconic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:15] I was walking to work this morning, actually, and I saw someone who had, like, the blonde part of Alysa Liu’s hair, and it kinda had that, like swoop at the end, and I was like, oh my god, is that her? Is it her?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jessica Kariisa \u003c/strong>[00:01:28] I feel like everyone’s like tracking her now. Like I saw a video of her like on someone’s TikTok of her coming through SFO. And then there was like a photo of her at a restaurant in Alameda. And like with that hair too, it’s like, you know.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Izzy Bloom \u003c/strong>[00:01:42] Yeah, the Bay is really coming out to celebrate her too. I’ve saw that there was like an ice cream shop in Oakland that was like free ice cream for life. There’s like a radio station that temporarily renamed itself after her. I just love to see all of the love for her in the Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:02:00] Yeah, and there are also these planned celebrations of her. One will be in Oakland. We saw Mayor Barbara Lee already really celebrating her. And then I think she plans to perform in San Jose. Did you hear about that, Jessica?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jessica Kariisa \u003c/strong>[00:02:13] I did, yeah, there’s gonna be a skating event at SAP Center I think in May and she’ll be there so I’m sure there’ll be a lot of people there for that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:02:23] Well, what a time to live and be from the Bay Area. And I guess on that note, Jessica, you’ve got a very Bay Area story for us as well at the intersection of two very Bay area things, AI and rent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jessica Kariisa \u003c/strong>[00:02:39] Yeah, for sure. I don’t know if you guys are like me, but one of my pastimes is to definitely be on Zillow and look at apartments. Basically, once I found my apartment three years ago, I never stopped looking. But one story that I am following related to that is that San Francisco rents are up by a lot. In fact, the city has the fastest growing rent increases in the entire country. And just in the past year, rents have increased 13.3% for a one bedroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Izzy Bloom \u003c/strong>[00:03:12] No!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jessica Kariisa \u003c/strong>[00:03:12] Right now, we’re talking about the average monthly rent for a 579 square foot apartment, which is a typical one bed, one bath, at around $3,745 a month. Another crazy statistic is that roughly 60% of San Francisco renters pay more than $3,000 a month. And yeah, as you might be able to guess, a big reason for that is the AI boom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:03:40] I don’t know being from here it’s not super surprising to hear rent in San Francisco is up but can you remind us maybe of the trajectory because rents actually went down by quite a bit during the pandemic, right?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jessica Kariisa \u003c/strong>[00:03:55] Right. Yeah, that’s a really good point. So during the pandemic, a bunch of people left the city and so rents actually went down. But then, you know, the AI industry really started to take off. And unlike previous tech booms took off in San Francisco in particular, not in Silicon Valley. And so that concentrated a lot of the demand in the city. And as we know, the city has not built enough housing. And so that’s just like already two factors that have. Made rent increases jump up. Return to office mandates have also made it so that people need to be back in the city for work. In recent months, actually in the past six months, and this is according to reporting from Mission Local and San Francisco Standard, the expectation of a lot of these major AI companies going public, meaning that a lot of people are gonna come into a lot of money very quickly, has also really push the demand up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Izzy Bloom \u003c/strong>[00:04:55] Are there particular neighborhoods or demographic groups that we know have been hardest hit by these rent increases?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jessica Kariisa \u003c/strong>[00:05:02] Yeah, according to apartment list, and this was reported on by the San Francisco Chronicle, rental prices in Mission Bay have soared 36% over the past year. Mission Bay is where OpenAI and NVIDIA have signed leases to huge companies that are in the AI industry. And also rents in South of Market, Petrero Hill, and Dogpatch are up 21%. You know, the people that are hardest pressed are definitely low-income people, definitely students. There was a student that was interviewed in this Mission Local article about rents going up. He’s a student at SF State, and he struggled just to find a room in a shared apartment, and it got so bad that he had to actually consult like a real estate agent, which is like a pretty uncommon practice, especially looking for a room in a share. But it’s just gotten to the point now where it’s like, unless you have some kind of hookup, you really need someone who’s in the know about what properties are available, and that’s what he had to do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Izzy Bloom \u003c/strong>[00:06:12] As a person who’s exclusively found Bay Area housing through Craigslist, I find it very sad to think of going to real estate agents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:06:19] I mean, I feel like, Jessica, with the sort of first tech boom in the city, we saw a lot of conversations about gentrification, a lot folks moving out of the city. Are we seeing something similar now with the AI boom?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jessica Kariisa \u003c/strong>[00:06:34] Yeah, definitely. Yeah, you have people moving to Daly City, people moving to the East Bay, people continuing to live with their parents. But it hasn’t decreased the demand for people wanting to move to the city. You know, someone profiled in the story in Mission Local talked about how he’ll always want to move to San Francisco and he’ll try to find his way there no matter what. And so while people are moving outside of the city, I think that won’t take away from the fact that plenty of people who aren’t in the tech industry will also keep wanting to move to San Francisco. So we’ll just see how it plays out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:07:09] Well, Jessica, thank you so much for bringing that story. I appreciate it. Thank you. And we’re gonna take a quick break, but when we come back, we’ll dig back into some of the other headlines that we’ve been following this month. Stay with us. And welcome back to the Bay’s Monthly News Roundup, where we talk about some of the other stories we’ve been following this month. Izzy Bloom, reporter and producer on KQD’s politics desk, what story have you brought today?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Izzy Bloom \u003c/strong>[00:07:42] So I’ve been following the Prop 50 redistricting fallout. And one of my favorite reads this month was by San Francisco Chronicle’s senior political writer, Joe Garofoli. He’s one of our recurring guests on Political Breakdown. And he went with Marin Congressman Jared Huffman on a little road trip up to the rural North State, what he called the MAGA-iest corner of California, just to check out Huffman’s newly-rejoned district after voters approved Proposition 50 in November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:08:11] And Izzy, Jared Huffman’s district has changed as a result of Prop 50, right? Can you remind us again what that did and I guess how this story fits into that?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Izzy Bloom \u003c/strong>[00:08:23] Yeah, so Prop 50, that was a ballot measure to give Democrats in California a pretty good chance of flipping five congressional seats in this year’s midterm elections. And it was in response to President Trump urging states like Texas to adopt new gerrymandered maps to give Republicans a leg up. And I think this story is just like an interesting example of the consequences of this ballot measure and how differently these regions are going to look and what means for the voters. Can you remind us how much his district changed? Yeah, so Huffman’s district, District 2, used to go from just north of the Golden Gate Bridge through Marin, up through Eureka and Arcata, and actually touches the Oregon border. His new congressional map stretches his district east to the Nevada border, and it draws in Modoc, Shasta, and Siskiyou counties. Some of those counties were previously represented by Republican Representative Doug LaMalfa. He was the fourth generation rice farmer who represented rural NorCal for over a decade in Congress. And then he died pretty suddenly early January from a heart attack during emergency surgery. Huffman’s new district is known for mega churches and a lot of agriculture and ranchers. It’s known for the secession movement to create a state of Jefferson separate from California and 62% of it supported Newsom’s recall in 2021.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:09:50] That’s so interesting because he now represents, like, it seems like two vastly different corners of California. I’m curious just how that went for him. What did he go there to do and what was that experience like talking with new members of his district?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Izzy Bloom \u003c/strong>[00:10:07] Yeah, it sounds like he went and met with the local Indivisible Chapter. That’s a progressive grassroots organization that is fighting the rise of authoritarianism in the US. And he met with a Native American tribe, the Pitt River Rancheria Tribal Council in Shasta County. And you know, Huffman really has to combat this perception as a liberal elite from Marin who’s out of touch with the rural North State residents. He promised not to push culture war issues. And in the article, he talks about really avoiding the W word, which is the wolves, which is a really big issue up there because the wolves have been killing a lot of cattle. And ranchers want gray wolves removed from the endangered species list so they can hunt them. But Huffman, he’s on the House Committee on Natural Resources. He’s a defender of the Endangered Species Act. So I think that could be a tough needle for him to thread.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jessica Kariisa \u003c/strong>[00:11:05] I mean, earlier you mentioned this is like the MAGA-iest corner of the state, and as a Democrat showing up there, did he get any pushback from people?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Izzy Bloom \u003c/strong>[00:11:16] It sounds like for the most part, the people up in the North State were just sort of like happy to hear that he’s making the drive out there. They don’t really get visited very often and like to hear that he was, you know, interested in hearing about the issues that matter to them up there. One thing that is interesting is that, you know Huffman doesn’t really need these voters in the election this fall. In some ways, it. Sounds like he went up there in good faith, but this district was gerrymandered in his favor, so he’s not obligated to, I think, to win the district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:11:55] Izzy, thank you so much for bringing that story. Appreciate it. And last but not least, we’re gonna dig into the story that I’ve been following this month. In testimony before the US Senate earlier this month, Waymo, the self-driving vehicle company, revealed that they use remote workers in the Philippines to assist its self- driving cars, meaning the self driving cars that you see driving around San Francisco are sometimes actually getting input and guidance from someone. Many many many miles away, raising a lot of concerns and obviously drawing a lot of scrutiny among lawmakers and folks in the Bay Area about the company’s use of cheap labor to do something as important as guiding vehicles through road safety in our communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jessica Kariisa \u003c/strong>[00:12:52] I mean, it just, I don’t know. It makes me think about the fact that anytime I call customer service, I’m pretty much talking to someone very, very far away. Why are senators so concerned about that when it comes to Waymo’s as opposed to like other forms of customer service?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:13:10] Yeah, so this information came out of a Senate committee hearing on commerce, science, and transportation. The meeting was called Hit the Road Mac, the future of self-driving cars. This hearing was actually really focused on the need for national safety standards around autonomous vehicles. Witnesses included. The VP of Vehicle Engineering at Tesla, and Waymo’s Chief Safety Officer, Mauricio Peña. And Senator Ed Markey, who’s a Democrat from Massachusetts, raised a ton of concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sen. Ed Markey \u003c/strong>[00:13:49] Are some of these operators located outside the United States?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mauricio Peña \u003c/strong>[00:13:54] Yeah, some are located abroad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sen. Ed Markey \u003c/strong>[00:13:55] Yeah, and so for me, that’s fairly shocking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:13:59] He called this completely unacceptable. He pointed out the sort of safety and cybersecurity implications of having people overseas influencing American vehicles. And I actually have this cut from him addressing specifically these concerns around jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sen. Ed Markey \u003c/strong>[00:14:21] Let’s not forget Waymo is trying to replace the jobs of hardworking taxi and ride share drivers and now you’re saying that of the human beings, the human jobs that remain in the system, you’re shipping those jobs overseas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:14:41] I feel like this story and Senator Markey are really just pointing out and highlighting this sort of continued use of cheap foreign labor by American tech companies as simultaneously all these tech companies are laying people off here in the U.S. And especially the Bay Area, which I feel every week there’s a new story about tech layoffs here. Has Waymo responded to these criticisms? Waymo has been pretty adamant that these remote workers are not in fact controlling or steering or braking or accelerating on any of these cars. They sort of describe it more as phoning a friend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mauricio Peña \u003c/strong>[00:15:22] Senator, they provide guidance. They do not remotely drive the vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:15:27] Basically, when a Waymo encounters a situation on the road, the autonomous driver can reach out to what are called human fleet response agents. These folks abroad are basically providing the car with additional information, helping it sort of contextualize its environment to kind of help it figure out what to do, basically. Waymo was not able to share with senators in this hearing. How many remote assistant agents they have, but they did reveal later that they have about 70 of them on duty worldwide at any given time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jessica Kariisa \u003c/strong>[00:16:05] I mean, we’re talking about a Senate hearing and concerns from senators, but what about the public? Have people brought up or said anything about this experience with people helping them from very far away?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:16:20] Yeah, I’ve actually been very amused by, like, just the response to this story online. Um, there’s actually a lot of folks from the Filipino community, I feel like, on Instagram have been posting videos, um, of themselves, like in the Waymo’s, speaking in Tagalog, to like, no one basically, just asking their, uh, Waymoes, uh to drive safely and to actually like, hurry up a little bit because they’re running late.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Instagram video \u003c/strong>[00:16:48] Hello po, kung sin naman po nagdadrive itong car na to, um, pas safe drive naman po…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:16:58] So I feel like there’s been this mix of sort of like, eye roll for this tech company that, you know, as I mentioned is using cheap foreign labor and also a little bit of humor and response as well. And that is it for my story and the Bay’s February Monthly News Roundup. Thank you so much, Jessica Kariisa, producer, for joining me. Thank you, Ericka. And Izzy Bloom, reporter and producer on KQED’s Politics Desk. Thank you for joining as well, Izzy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Izzy Bloom \u003c/strong>[00:17:31] Oh, my pleasure.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In this edition of The Bay’s monthly news roundup, we discuss the effect of the booming AI industry on San Francisco’s rental market, Rep.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Jared Huffman’s visit to his “radically redrawn” district since the passage of Prop. 50\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, and reactions to the revelation that Waymo employs remote workers in the Philippines. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Links: \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://missionlocal.org/2026/02/san-francisc-rents-ai-boom-tenants/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">AI is pushing S.F. rents higher and higher. Here’s how tenants are dealing\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (Mission Local)\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/joegarofoli/article/jared-huffman-prop-50-21305767.php\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In his radically redrawn new district, a Marin congressman gets thrown to the wolves\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (San Francisco Chronicle)\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://futurism.com/advanced-transport/waymo-remote-operators\">Here’s How Many Remote Operators Waymo Has Per Self-Driving Taxi\u003c/a> (Futurism)\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\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=KQINC3782178423&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco-Northern California Local.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:00:04] I’m Ericka Cruz Guevara, and welcome to The Bay, local news to keep you rooted. And welcome to the Bay’s February News Roundup, where we dig into some of the other headlines that have piqued our interest this month. I’m joined today by producer Jessica Kariisa. What’s up, Jessica?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jessica Kariisa \u003c/strong>[00:00:21] Hey, Ericka.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:00:22] And our special guest this month is Izzy Bloom, reporter and producer on KQBD’s politics desk. Thank you so much for joining me, Izzy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Izzy Bloom \u003c/strong>[00:00:29] Thanks for having me\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:00:32] So this month, February, I feel like I’ve been thinking about just what a privilege it is to be from the Bay Area, to live in the Bay area. We had Super Bowl this month. And we also had, of course, our shining star, Alysa Liu win the gold at the Olympics. And yeah, I’ve just been thinking about that a lot, just very proud to be living here, from here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Izzy Bloom \u003c/strong>[00:00:59] Oh yeah, I loved watching her performance and she’s just like so joyful. Yeah.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:04] I feel like she just represents the Bay Area so well. The way she carries herself, her look, evens very Bay Area to me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jessica Kariisa \u003c/strong>[00:01:13] Her hair is so iconic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:15] I was walking to work this morning, actually, and I saw someone who had, like, the blonde part of Alysa Liu’s hair, and it kinda had that, like swoop at the end, and I was like, oh my god, is that her? Is it her?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jessica Kariisa \u003c/strong>[00:01:28] I feel like everyone’s like tracking her now. Like I saw a video of her like on someone’s TikTok of her coming through SFO. And then there was like a photo of her at a restaurant in Alameda. And like with that hair too, it’s like, you know.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Izzy Bloom \u003c/strong>[00:01:42] Yeah, the Bay is really coming out to celebrate her too. I’ve saw that there was like an ice cream shop in Oakland that was like free ice cream for life. There’s like a radio station that temporarily renamed itself after her. I just love to see all of the love for her in the Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:02:00] Yeah, and there are also these planned celebrations of her. One will be in Oakland. We saw Mayor Barbara Lee already really celebrating her. And then I think she plans to perform in San Jose. Did you hear about that, Jessica?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jessica Kariisa \u003c/strong>[00:02:13] I did, yeah, there’s gonna be a skating event at SAP Center I think in May and she’ll be there so I’m sure there’ll be a lot of people there for that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:02:23] Well, what a time to live and be from the Bay Area. And I guess on that note, Jessica, you’ve got a very Bay Area story for us as well at the intersection of two very Bay area things, AI and rent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jessica Kariisa \u003c/strong>[00:02:39] Yeah, for sure. I don’t know if you guys are like me, but one of my pastimes is to definitely be on Zillow and look at apartments. Basically, once I found my apartment three years ago, I never stopped looking. But one story that I am following related to that is that San Francisco rents are up by a lot. In fact, the city has the fastest growing rent increases in the entire country. And just in the past year, rents have increased 13.3% for a one bedroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Izzy Bloom \u003c/strong>[00:03:12] No!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jessica Kariisa \u003c/strong>[00:03:12] Right now, we’re talking about the average monthly rent for a 579 square foot apartment, which is a typical one bed, one bath, at around $3,745 a month. Another crazy statistic is that roughly 60% of San Francisco renters pay more than $3,000 a month. And yeah, as you might be able to guess, a big reason for that is the AI boom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:03:40] I don’t know being from here it’s not super surprising to hear rent in San Francisco is up but can you remind us maybe of the trajectory because rents actually went down by quite a bit during the pandemic, right?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jessica Kariisa \u003c/strong>[00:03:55] Right. Yeah, that’s a really good point. So during the pandemic, a bunch of people left the city and so rents actually went down. But then, you know, the AI industry really started to take off. And unlike previous tech booms took off in San Francisco in particular, not in Silicon Valley. And so that concentrated a lot of the demand in the city. And as we know, the city has not built enough housing. And so that’s just like already two factors that have. Made rent increases jump up. Return to office mandates have also made it so that people need to be back in the city for work. In recent months, actually in the past six months, and this is according to reporting from Mission Local and San Francisco Standard, the expectation of a lot of these major AI companies going public, meaning that a lot of people are gonna come into a lot of money very quickly, has also really push the demand up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Izzy Bloom \u003c/strong>[00:04:55] Are there particular neighborhoods or demographic groups that we know have been hardest hit by these rent increases?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jessica Kariisa \u003c/strong>[00:05:02] Yeah, according to apartment list, and this was reported on by the San Francisco Chronicle, rental prices in Mission Bay have soared 36% over the past year. Mission Bay is where OpenAI and NVIDIA have signed leases to huge companies that are in the AI industry. And also rents in South of Market, Petrero Hill, and Dogpatch are up 21%. You know, the people that are hardest pressed are definitely low-income people, definitely students. There was a student that was interviewed in this Mission Local article about rents going up. He’s a student at SF State, and he struggled just to find a room in a shared apartment, and it got so bad that he had to actually consult like a real estate agent, which is like a pretty uncommon practice, especially looking for a room in a share. But it’s just gotten to the point now where it’s like, unless you have some kind of hookup, you really need someone who’s in the know about what properties are available, and that’s what he had to do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Izzy Bloom \u003c/strong>[00:06:12] As a person who’s exclusively found Bay Area housing through Craigslist, I find it very sad to think of going to real estate agents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:06:19] I mean, I feel like, Jessica, with the sort of first tech boom in the city, we saw a lot of conversations about gentrification, a lot folks moving out of the city. Are we seeing something similar now with the AI boom?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jessica Kariisa \u003c/strong>[00:06:34] Yeah, definitely. Yeah, you have people moving to Daly City, people moving to the East Bay, people continuing to live with their parents. But it hasn’t decreased the demand for people wanting to move to the city. You know, someone profiled in the story in Mission Local talked about how he’ll always want to move to San Francisco and he’ll try to find his way there no matter what. And so while people are moving outside of the city, I think that won’t take away from the fact that plenty of people who aren’t in the tech industry will also keep wanting to move to San Francisco. So we’ll just see how it plays out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:07:09] Well, Jessica, thank you so much for bringing that story. I appreciate it. Thank you. And we’re gonna take a quick break, but when we come back, we’ll dig back into some of the other headlines that we’ve been following this month. Stay with us. And welcome back to the Bay’s Monthly News Roundup, where we talk about some of the other stories we’ve been following this month. Izzy Bloom, reporter and producer on KQD’s politics desk, what story have you brought today?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Izzy Bloom \u003c/strong>[00:07:42] So I’ve been following the Prop 50 redistricting fallout. And one of my favorite reads this month was by San Francisco Chronicle’s senior political writer, Joe Garofoli. He’s one of our recurring guests on Political Breakdown. And he went with Marin Congressman Jared Huffman on a little road trip up to the rural North State, what he called the MAGA-iest corner of California, just to check out Huffman’s newly-rejoned district after voters approved Proposition 50 in November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:08:11] And Izzy, Jared Huffman’s district has changed as a result of Prop 50, right? Can you remind us again what that did and I guess how this story fits into that?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Izzy Bloom \u003c/strong>[00:08:23] Yeah, so Prop 50, that was a ballot measure to give Democrats in California a pretty good chance of flipping five congressional seats in this year’s midterm elections. And it was in response to President Trump urging states like Texas to adopt new gerrymandered maps to give Republicans a leg up. And I think this story is just like an interesting example of the consequences of this ballot measure and how differently these regions are going to look and what means for the voters. Can you remind us how much his district changed? Yeah, so Huffman’s district, District 2, used to go from just north of the Golden Gate Bridge through Marin, up through Eureka and Arcata, and actually touches the Oregon border. His new congressional map stretches his district east to the Nevada border, and it draws in Modoc, Shasta, and Siskiyou counties. Some of those counties were previously represented by Republican Representative Doug LaMalfa. He was the fourth generation rice farmer who represented rural NorCal for over a decade in Congress. And then he died pretty suddenly early January from a heart attack during emergency surgery. Huffman’s new district is known for mega churches and a lot of agriculture and ranchers. It’s known for the secession movement to create a state of Jefferson separate from California and 62% of it supported Newsom’s recall in 2021.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:09:50] That’s so interesting because he now represents, like, it seems like two vastly different corners of California. I’m curious just how that went for him. What did he go there to do and what was that experience like talking with new members of his district?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Izzy Bloom \u003c/strong>[00:10:07] Yeah, it sounds like he went and met with the local Indivisible Chapter. That’s a progressive grassroots organization that is fighting the rise of authoritarianism in the US. And he met with a Native American tribe, the Pitt River Rancheria Tribal Council in Shasta County. And you know, Huffman really has to combat this perception as a liberal elite from Marin who’s out of touch with the rural North State residents. He promised not to push culture war issues. And in the article, he talks about really avoiding the W word, which is the wolves, which is a really big issue up there because the wolves have been killing a lot of cattle. And ranchers want gray wolves removed from the endangered species list so they can hunt them. But Huffman, he’s on the House Committee on Natural Resources. He’s a defender of the Endangered Species Act. So I think that could be a tough needle for him to thread.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jessica Kariisa \u003c/strong>[00:11:05] I mean, earlier you mentioned this is like the MAGA-iest corner of the state, and as a Democrat showing up there, did he get any pushback from people?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Izzy Bloom \u003c/strong>[00:11:16] It sounds like for the most part, the people up in the North State were just sort of like happy to hear that he’s making the drive out there. They don’t really get visited very often and like to hear that he was, you know, interested in hearing about the issues that matter to them up there. One thing that is interesting is that, you know Huffman doesn’t really need these voters in the election this fall. In some ways, it. Sounds like he went up there in good faith, but this district was gerrymandered in his favor, so he’s not obligated to, I think, to win the district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:11:55] Izzy, thank you so much for bringing that story. Appreciate it. And last but not least, we’re gonna dig into the story that I’ve been following this month. In testimony before the US Senate earlier this month, Waymo, the self-driving vehicle company, revealed that they use remote workers in the Philippines to assist its self- driving cars, meaning the self driving cars that you see driving around San Francisco are sometimes actually getting input and guidance from someone. Many many many miles away, raising a lot of concerns and obviously drawing a lot of scrutiny among lawmakers and folks in the Bay Area about the company’s use of cheap labor to do something as important as guiding vehicles through road safety in our communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jessica Kariisa \u003c/strong>[00:12:52] I mean, it just, I don’t know. It makes me think about the fact that anytime I call customer service, I’m pretty much talking to someone very, very far away. Why are senators so concerned about that when it comes to Waymo’s as opposed to like other forms of customer service?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:13:10] Yeah, so this information came out of a Senate committee hearing on commerce, science, and transportation. The meeting was called Hit the Road Mac, the future of self-driving cars. This hearing was actually really focused on the need for national safety standards around autonomous vehicles. Witnesses included. The VP of Vehicle Engineering at Tesla, and Waymo’s Chief Safety Officer, Mauricio Peña. And Senator Ed Markey, who’s a Democrat from Massachusetts, raised a ton of concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sen. Ed Markey \u003c/strong>[00:13:49] Are some of these operators located outside the United States?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mauricio Peña \u003c/strong>[00:13:54] Yeah, some are located abroad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sen. Ed Markey \u003c/strong>[00:13:55] Yeah, and so for me, that’s fairly shocking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:13:59] He called this completely unacceptable. He pointed out the sort of safety and cybersecurity implications of having people overseas influencing American vehicles. And I actually have this cut from him addressing specifically these concerns around jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sen. Ed Markey \u003c/strong>[00:14:21] Let’s not forget Waymo is trying to replace the jobs of hardworking taxi and ride share drivers and now you’re saying that of the human beings, the human jobs that remain in the system, you’re shipping those jobs overseas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:14:41] I feel like this story and Senator Markey are really just pointing out and highlighting this sort of continued use of cheap foreign labor by American tech companies as simultaneously all these tech companies are laying people off here in the U.S. And especially the Bay Area, which I feel every week there’s a new story about tech layoffs here. Has Waymo responded to these criticisms? Waymo has been pretty adamant that these remote workers are not in fact controlling or steering or braking or accelerating on any of these cars. They sort of describe it more as phoning a friend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mauricio Peña \u003c/strong>[00:15:22] Senator, they provide guidance. They do not remotely drive the vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:15:27] Basically, when a Waymo encounters a situation on the road, the autonomous driver can reach out to what are called human fleet response agents. These folks abroad are basically providing the car with additional information, helping it sort of contextualize its environment to kind of help it figure out what to do, basically. Waymo was not able to share with senators in this hearing. How many remote assistant agents they have, but they did reveal later that they have about 70 of them on duty worldwide at any given time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jessica Kariisa \u003c/strong>[00:16:05] I mean, we’re talking about a Senate hearing and concerns from senators, but what about the public? Have people brought up or said anything about this experience with people helping them from very far away?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:16:20] Yeah, I’ve actually been very amused by, like, just the response to this story online. Um, there’s actually a lot of folks from the Filipino community, I feel like, on Instagram have been posting videos, um, of themselves, like in the Waymo’s, speaking in Tagalog, to like, no one basically, just asking their, uh, Waymoes, uh to drive safely and to actually like, hurry up a little bit because they’re running late.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Instagram video \u003c/strong>[00:16:48] Hello po, kung sin naman po nagdadrive itong car na to, um, pas safe drive naman po…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:16:58] So I feel like there’s been this mix of sort of like, eye roll for this tech company that, you know, as I mentioned is using cheap foreign labor and also a little bit of humor and response as well. And that is it for my story and the Bay’s February Monthly News Roundup. Thank you so much, Jessica Kariisa, producer, for joining me. Thank you, Ericka. And Izzy Bloom, reporter and producer on KQED’s Politics Desk. Thank you for joining as well, Izzy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Izzy Bloom \u003c/strong>[00:17:31] Oh, my pleasure.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Waymo Under Federal Investigation After Robotaxi Strikes Child Outside Elementary School",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/siliconvalley\">Silicon Valley\u003c/a>-based \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/waymo\">Waymo\u003c/a> is under federal investigation after a driverless robotaxi struck a child outside of a Santa Monica elementary school last week — the second time a Waymo autonomous vehicle made contact with a child, according to federal records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Waymo reported the Santa Monica crash to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and told the agency the child sustained minor injuries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The collision happened during morning drop-off on Jan. 23. The child stepped onto the street from behind an SUV, the \u003ca href=\"https://waymo.com/blog/2026/01/a-commitment-to-transparency-and-road-safety\">company\u003c/a> said in a blog post describing the incident. The Waymo detected the child and braked, reducing speed from approximately 17 mph to under 6 mph before impact.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company, a subsidiary of Google’s parent Alphabet, said the child walked to the sidewalk and Waymo called 911.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Waymo asserted the collision demonstrates the value of its safety systems: “Our \u003ca href=\"https://waymo.com/blog/2022/09/benchmarking-av-safety\">peer-reviewed model\u003c/a> shows that a fully attentive human driver in this same situation would have made contact with the pedestrian at approximately 14 mph,” the post stated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Department of Motor Vehicles and California Highway Patrol met with Waymo and reviewed the incident, a spokesperson for the DMV said in an email to KQED, noting the agency is collaborating with NHTSA and the National Transportation Safety Board in their investigations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12050416\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12050416\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250730-WAYMOFILE_00515_TV-KQED_1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250730-WAYMOFILE_00515_TV-KQED_1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250730-WAYMOFILE_00515_TV-KQED_1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250730-WAYMOFILE_00515_TV-KQED_1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Waymo autonomous vehicle drives through 16th Street and Potrero in San Francisco on July 22, 2025. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12067511/death-robotaxis-and-a-cat-named-kitkat\">safety of autonomous vehicles\u003c/a> has come under intense scrutiny as Waymo and its rivals mass deploy robotic taxis on U.S. streets. Waymo offers fully autonomous rides without a human safety monitor in half a dozen American cities, including Los Angeles, Phoenix, Austin and the Bay Area. On Thursday, Waymo \u003ca href=\"https://waymo.com/blog/2026/01/waymo-rides-at-sfo\">announced\u003c/a> it would begin taking passengers to and from San Francisco International Airport.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company came under fire in the Bay Area in October after one of its \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12062777/san-francisco-supervisor-calls-for-robotaxi-reform-after-waymo-kills-neighborhood-cat\">robotaxis struck and killed Kitkat\u003c/a>, a beloved neighborhood cat, prompting outcry and calls for more intense regulation. A week later, another Waymo \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/waymo-robotaxi-hits-dog-san-francisco-21217764.php\">struck\u003c/a> a small unleashed dog.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And in November, a Waymo vehicle came to a stop on the foot of an exiting teenage passenger in Scottsdale, Arizona, according to an NHTSA incident report. The Waymo “remained stopped on top of the passenger’s foot until emergency services arrived and lifted the right side of the vehicle,” after which the passenger was taken to the hospital “with moderate injuries to the foot.”[aside postID=news_12063035 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251105-Waymo-Discriminate-03-KQED.jpg']A passerby called first responders after hearing a male juvenile “screaming for help,” according to the police report. The officer who responded overheard the passenger saying the Waymo “told him to get out of the vehicle, even though it was in the middle of the street.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A Waymo spokesperson told the\u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/01/29/waymo-autonomous-vehicle-crash/\"> \u003cem>Washington Post\u003c/em>\u003c/a> the teen opened the door while the vehicle was traveling 35 mph, and attempted to exit before the vehicle had come to a complete stop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Waymo — over the past few months — doesn’t have a great track record of being overtly transparent with their data,” said Billy Riggs, a professor at the University of San Francisco School of Management and the director of the Autonomous Vehicles and the City Initiative.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Riggs was referring to Dec. 22, when many of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12068177/pge-outage-leaves-130000-across-san-francisco-without-power\">Waymo’s self-driving cars blocked streets\u003c/a> of San Francisco during a mass power outage and forced the company to temporarily suspend service, raising questions about the autonomous vehicles’ ability to adapt to real-world driving conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The vehicles, Riggs said, “are driving based on the rules of the road that we give them.” Waymos, he said, follow the speed limit, unlike many humans in a school zone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That collision would have been a lot more severe at a higher speed,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Santa Monica crash happened the same day that the NTSB \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/NTSB_Newsroom/status/2014817506477703198?s=20\">said\u003c/a> it was opening an investigation into Waymo’s behavior around school buses in Austin.\u003ca href=\"https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/inv/2025/INOT-PE25013-30888P1.pdf\"> Austin Independent School \u003c/a>District officials \u003ca href=\"https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/inv/2025/INOT-PE25013-30888P1.pdf\">said \u003c/a>in November they documented 19 cases of Waymos “illegally and dangerously” passing buses since the beginning of the 2025-26 school year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Riggs said he’s looked into those cases and found Waymos were not entirely at fault in all the incidents. “Some of these situations are a little more complex,” he said. “Similar situations are being reported as if they were the same, and they’re not precisely the same.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Additionally, he said, “The fleet learns as it scales, and so they can issue these patches, and it shouldn’t repeat the same error twice.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"headline": "Waymo Under Federal Investigation After Robotaxi Strikes Child Outside Elementary School",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/siliconvalley\">Silicon Valley\u003c/a>-based \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/waymo\">Waymo\u003c/a> is under federal investigation after a driverless robotaxi struck a child outside of a Santa Monica elementary school last week — the second time a Waymo autonomous vehicle made contact with a child, according to federal records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Waymo reported the Santa Monica crash to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and told the agency the child sustained minor injuries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The collision happened during morning drop-off on Jan. 23. The child stepped onto the street from behind an SUV, the \u003ca href=\"https://waymo.com/blog/2026/01/a-commitment-to-transparency-and-road-safety\">company\u003c/a> said in a blog post describing the incident. The Waymo detected the child and braked, reducing speed from approximately 17 mph to under 6 mph before impact.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company, a subsidiary of Google’s parent Alphabet, said the child walked to the sidewalk and Waymo called 911.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Waymo asserted the collision demonstrates the value of its safety systems: “Our \u003ca href=\"https://waymo.com/blog/2022/09/benchmarking-av-safety\">peer-reviewed model\u003c/a> shows that a fully attentive human driver in this same situation would have made contact with the pedestrian at approximately 14 mph,” the post stated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Department of Motor Vehicles and California Highway Patrol met with Waymo and reviewed the incident, a spokesperson for the DMV said in an email to KQED, noting the agency is collaborating with NHTSA and the National Transportation Safety Board in their investigations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12050416\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12050416\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250730-WAYMOFILE_00515_TV-KQED_1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250730-WAYMOFILE_00515_TV-KQED_1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250730-WAYMOFILE_00515_TV-KQED_1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250730-WAYMOFILE_00515_TV-KQED_1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Waymo autonomous vehicle drives through 16th Street and Potrero in San Francisco on July 22, 2025. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12067511/death-robotaxis-and-a-cat-named-kitkat\">safety of autonomous vehicles\u003c/a> has come under intense scrutiny as Waymo and its rivals mass deploy robotic taxis on U.S. streets. Waymo offers fully autonomous rides without a human safety monitor in half a dozen American cities, including Los Angeles, Phoenix, Austin and the Bay Area. On Thursday, Waymo \u003ca href=\"https://waymo.com/blog/2026/01/waymo-rides-at-sfo\">announced\u003c/a> it would begin taking passengers to and from San Francisco International Airport.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company came under fire in the Bay Area in October after one of its \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12062777/san-francisco-supervisor-calls-for-robotaxi-reform-after-waymo-kills-neighborhood-cat\">robotaxis struck and killed Kitkat\u003c/a>, a beloved neighborhood cat, prompting outcry and calls for more intense regulation. A week later, another Waymo \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/waymo-robotaxi-hits-dog-san-francisco-21217764.php\">struck\u003c/a> a small unleashed dog.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And in November, a Waymo vehicle came to a stop on the foot of an exiting teenage passenger in Scottsdale, Arizona, according to an NHTSA incident report. The Waymo “remained stopped on top of the passenger’s foot until emergency services arrived and lifted the right side of the vehicle,” after which the passenger was taken to the hospital “with moderate injuries to the foot.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>A passerby called first responders after hearing a male juvenile “screaming for help,” according to the police report. The officer who responded overheard the passenger saying the Waymo “told him to get out of the vehicle, even though it was in the middle of the street.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A Waymo spokesperson told the\u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/01/29/waymo-autonomous-vehicle-crash/\"> \u003cem>Washington Post\u003c/em>\u003c/a> the teen opened the door while the vehicle was traveling 35 mph, and attempted to exit before the vehicle had come to a complete stop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Waymo — over the past few months — doesn’t have a great track record of being overtly transparent with their data,” said Billy Riggs, a professor at the University of San Francisco School of Management and the director of the Autonomous Vehicles and the City Initiative.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Riggs was referring to Dec. 22, when many of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12068177/pge-outage-leaves-130000-across-san-francisco-without-power\">Waymo’s self-driving cars blocked streets\u003c/a> of San Francisco during a mass power outage and forced the company to temporarily suspend service, raising questions about the autonomous vehicles’ ability to adapt to real-world driving conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The vehicles, Riggs said, “are driving based on the rules of the road that we give them.” Waymos, he said, follow the speed limit, unlike many humans in a school zone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That collision would have been a lot more severe at a higher speed,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Santa Monica crash happened the same day that the NTSB \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/NTSB_Newsroom/status/2014817506477703198?s=20\">said\u003c/a> it was opening an investigation into Waymo’s behavior around school buses in Austin.\u003ca href=\"https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/inv/2025/INOT-PE25013-30888P1.pdf\"> Austin Independent School \u003c/a>District officials \u003ca href=\"https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/inv/2025/INOT-PE25013-30888P1.pdf\">said \u003c/a>in November they documented 19 cases of Waymos “illegally and dangerously” passing buses since the beginning of the 2025-26 school year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Riggs said he’s looked into those cases and found Waymos were not entirely at fault in all the incidents. “Some of these situations are a little more complex,” he said. “Similar situations are being reported as if they were the same, and they’re not precisely the same.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Additionally, he said, “The fleet learns as it scales, and so they can issue these patches, and it shouldn’t repeat the same error twice.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "death-robotaxis-and-a-cat-named-kitkat",
"title": "Death, Robotaxis, and a Cat Named KitKat",
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"headTitle": "Death, Robotaxis, and a Cat Named KitKat | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>View the full episode transcript.\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When KitKat, a beloved bodega cat, was killed by a Waymo in San Francisco in late October of this year, the incident quickly went viral. It ignited grief and outrage. It also renewed scrutiny of autonomous vehicles. But in a city where hundreds of animals are hit by vehicles each year, why did this incident — and this particular cat — hit such a nerve? \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We hear from Oscar Palma, the first reporter on the scene, about what unfolded the night KitKat was killed. Then, Mission Local managing editor Joe Eskenazi and KQED reporter Sydney Johnson explore the limits of autonomous vehicles and why one cat’s death resonated so deeply in a rapidly gentrifying San Francisco.\u003c/span>\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=KQINC5106693547\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guests: \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/sjohnson\">Sydney Johnson\u003c/a>, reporter at KQED \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://missionlocal.org/author/oscarp/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oscar Palma\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, reporter at Mission Local\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://missionlocal.org/joe-eskenazi/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Joe Eskenazi\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, managing editor at Mission Local\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Further Reading:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://missionlocal.org/2025/10/kitkat-mission-liquor-store-mascot-and-16th-st-ambassador-killed-on-monday/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">KitKat, liquor store mascot and ‘16th St. ambassador,’ killed — allegedly by Waymo\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> — Oscar Palma, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mission Local\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12062777/san-francisco-supervisor-calls-for-robotaxi-reform-after-waymo-kills-neighborhood-cat\">San Francisco Supervisor Calls for Robotaxi Reform After Waymo Kills Neighborhood Cat \u003c/a>\u003ci>— Sydney Johnson, \u003ci>KQED\u003c/i>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/us/waymo-kit-kat-san-francisco.html\">How Kit Kat Was Killed: Video Shows What a Waymo Couldn’t See \u003c/a>— Heather Knight, \u003ci>The New York Times \u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/12/30/1222083720/driverless-cars-gm-cruise-waymo-san-francisco-accidents\">Driverless car startup Cruise’s no good, terrible year\u003c/a> — Dara Kerr, \u003ci>NPR\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/2024/11/14/cruise-fine-investigation-dragging-robotaxi/\">Cruise admits lying to feds about dragging woman in San Francisco\u003c/a> — Kevin Truong, \u003ci>The San Francisco Standard\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://missionlocal.org/2025/12/waymo-confirms-its-car-hit-dog-in-western-addition/\">Waymo hits dog in S.F. weeks after killing Mission bodega cat\u003c/a> — Kelly Waldron, \u003ci>Mission Local\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kron4.com/news/technology-ai/dog-hit-by-waymo-in-sf-put-down-by-family-after-suffering-severe-pelvic-trauma/\">Dog hit by Waymo in SF put down by family after suffering ‘severe pelvic trauma’\u003c/a> — Alex Baker, \u003ci>KRON4\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.economist.com/business/2025/11/24/the-self-driving-taxi-revolution-begins-at-last\">The self-driving taxi revolution begins at last\u003c/a> — \u003ci>The Economist \u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Want to give us feedback on the show? Shoot us an email at \u003ca href=\"mailto:CloseAllTabs@KQED.org\">CloseAllTabs@KQED.org\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Follow us on\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/closealltabspod/\"> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Instagram\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@closealltabs\"> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">TikTok\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\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>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Crowd Chanting “KitKat! KitKat!” ]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung, Host: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Last month, KQED reporter Sydney Johnson covered an event in her neighborhood, that was part memorial service, part rally, in San Francisco’s Mission District. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dozens of residents gathered in front of Randa’s Market to remember KitKat, the store’s beloved 9-year-old tabby cat. KitKat was more than a bodega cat — he was known as the Mayor of 16th street. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sydney Johnson, Guest:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> There were dozens of people there, you know, chitchatting. uh, many of them lived in the neighborhood and were giving each other hugs and, you know, talking about memories that they had of walking by the market after a late night and petting KitKat or, you know, maybe on their way to work and, and giving him a little scratch, uh, when they popped in for a drink in the morning.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">KitKat’s death was particularly devastating for the neighborhood, because it wasn’t old age, or sickness, or even human cruelty that killed him. It was a \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Waymo. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> That’s the autonomous rideshare service, also known as a robotaxi.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> I’d say the vibe of this event was, you know, both. Mournful and, and somber. but also really angry and, and focused.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">KitKat was struck and killed in late October, and in the days after, locals mourned him by turning the tree in front of Randa’s Market into a makeshift shrine. Someone had attached a framed photo of KitKat to the tree, and others adorned the frame with flowers and a cat-sized crown. The base of the tree was overflowing with candles, bouquets, handwritten messages, and of course, cat treats. People even scattered KitKat’s namesake candy around the shrine. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">By the time the rally happened a week later, grief had become anger. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> But our local supervisor, you know, took some of that anger and outrage and. Really just said, this is a moment where we have to think about these technologies that are being deployed all around us \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Here’s San Francisco Supervisor Jackie Fielder at the rally. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Jackie Fielder at Rally]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The future of autonomous vehicles should be decided by people, not tech, oligarchs and their politicians. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Audience Member: Yes!\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jackie Fielder: Thank you all so much and rest in peace, KitKat. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">KitKat’s death sparked nationwide outrage. He’s become the face of resistance to robotaxis, AI, and the tech industry as a whole. In death, he’s become a viral sensation. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Clip from Australia News]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s a new social justice movement in San Francisco, sparked by the death of a beloved neighborhood cat that was killed by a driverless car.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Clip from Inside Edition] \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now fans of the adored feline are taking to social media demanding hashtag justice for Kit Kat. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Clip from Tiktok]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">People are mourning a true pillar of the community and who they call the mayor of 16th Street,\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Waymo, meanwhile, recently announced its expansion across California. The company has plans to deploy its robotaxis in San Diego, Sacramento, and lots in between. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sydney Johnson: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And so it kind of became, you know, more than just this cat who died. This is actually now something where people who have been, you know, nervous or uneasy about autonomous vehicles, uh, really had a moment where they were saying, Hey, let’s actually think about how we can avoid this kind of tragedy, uh, especially if it could get even worse in the future.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Waymo says its autonomous vehicles are safer than human drivers — at least, they have a lower crash rate. But these cars aren’t infallible. KitKat may be the most viral victim of a robotaxi crash, but he’s not the only one. His death has raised some major concerns about safety, especially as Waymo and other robotaxi companies vie to compete with human-driven rideshares. The loss of this little bodega cat might have sparked a movement … but can these giant tech companies really be reined in? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is Close All Tabs. I’m Morgan Sung, tech journalist, and your chronically online friend, here to open as many browser tabs as it takes to help you understand how the digital world affects our real lives. Let’s get into it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Waymos, and robotaxis as a whole, have been pretty controversial since they started hitting streets in 2020. While robotaxi supporters praise the convenience and supposed safety of self-driving cars, detractors have real concerns. They threaten jobs, they disrupt traffic, they can’t make the same decisions that a human driver can, which makes them a nuisance at best and at worst, a public safety hazard. Plus, they represent the tech industry’s rapid encroachment on local communities. Like we covered in one of our very first episodes of this show, it’s what makes Waymos so easy to vandalize: they’re a physical, tangible outlet for this collective anxiety and rage against Silicon Valley. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In Los Angeles, Dodgers fans celebrated their team’s World Series win by spray painting and smashing Waymos.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Videos of the vandalized cars went viral, with captions like “Justice for KitKat” and “Revenge for the bodega cat.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So why did this particular incident kick off such a firestorm? To unpack that, we need to return to the night KitKat was killed. What do we know, and what don’t we know, about what happened? Time to open a new tab. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[SFX typing]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What happened to KitKat? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[SFX tab sequence]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003c/b>\u003cb>Oscar Palma, Guest:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Every time I go to the Roxy, I would always make a point to stop by and then say hi to Kit Kat.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is Oscar Palma, a reporter at Mission Local, a news site that covers San Francisco. He was one of the first journalists to break the news of KitKat’s death. The Roxie is a local theater that shows indie and arthouse films. This area is a bustling social hub — there are bars, restaurants, comedy clubs and KitKat lived in the heart of it, in the corner store right next to the Roxie.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Oscar Palma: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">People were laughing and saying we call him the boss because he was checking on everyone, making sure that everything was working.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So the night of the incident, KitKat was doing what he did best: sauntering up and down the street, greeting bar patrons.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Oscar Palma:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> It was Monday night. I believe it was 11:40 pm and two witnesses who came up to me and they say, “Hey, we saw everything that happened.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They came out of the bar, and so they saw the Waymo was picking up some passengers.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> While the Waymo idled at the curb, KitKat darted under the hood, settling in front of the car’s front tire. A bystander noticed the cat, and rushed over to lure him out. She recounted the night in an interview with the New York Times. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Meg Brigman in TikTok Clip]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I bent down, his ears were back. He looked very stressed. I said, “KitKat, come here, come here.” Being so close to the car, I didn’t expect it to drive away.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oscar said that KitKat stood in front of the tire for about seven seconds, before he got spooked and retreated further under the car. The Waymo didn’t appear to sense KitKat, or the person crouched in front of the car. Instead, as surveillance footage obtained by the New York Times shows, the Waymo pulled forward. Here’s Oscar again.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Oscar Palma: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And so he ran over, um, half of his body. And so Kit Kat, um, made it on its own back to the sidewalk. But, um, our witnesses saw everything and they describe a very awful sight to see. Uh, pretty much seeing the last moment of KitKat being alive, and they say that the Waymo never really stopped.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">KitKat dragged himself to the sidewalk, but was gravely injured and spitting blood. A bartender called KitKat’s owner and rushed the cat to a nearby animal hospital, where he died.\u003c/span>\u003cb> \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oscar said that Mission Local requested a copy of Waymo’s footage from the accident, but the company didn’t respond. Here’s Joe Eskenazi, managing editor at Mission Local. He joined us for the conversation with Oscar.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Joe Eskenazi, Guest:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> So clearly, you know, the witnesses told Oscar that the cat had been idling in front of the car for seven seconds. Waymo simply said, the cat darted underneath the car. Both of those things can be true, but by omitting the first part, you’re not telling the full story. So, you know, presumably it’s all on film.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Waymo touts its safety record as significantly better than human drivers. The company reported that throughout June 2025, Waymos had 80% fewer injury-causing crashes. But autonomous vehicles aren’t able to replicate human thinking and reasoning. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For their story, Mission Local spoke with several experts on autonomous vehicles.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Joe Eskenazi:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Here’s the problem, is that human beings have what’s known as object permanence. When you hide your face from a baby, you know the baby is surprised to see that you can take your \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">fa\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> hand away and, and your face is still there. But you know, children who are even very young understand that your face doesn’t disappear. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Waymo cars don’t know that. Waymo cars don’t have the computational power, as amazing as they are, to know that the cat that, uh, was in front of the car for seven seconds and then walked under the car where there are not sensors is still a factor. You can’t really have the sensors on the bottom of the car because they get dirtied up so quickly. If you’ve ever touched the tires on your car, they’re really dirty, so they get dirtied up so quickly that you can’t really have sensors there. So, you know, these cars are susceptible to small objects like this being underneath the car.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What happened to KitKat is not a one-off incident. Earlier this month, just weeks after a Waymo killed KitKat, another Waymo ran over an unleashed dog in San Francisco, about ten minutes from where KitKat was struck and killed. The dog’s owners decided to put him down due to severe pelvic injuries. Waymo reportedly offered to assist with the dog’s medical expenses, and offered to cover the cost of adopting a new pet.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Joe Eskenazi:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> People can say that human beings don’t drive as well as these vehicles. But we can also say that we’re seeing a pattern here of the autonomous vehicles being susceptible to small objects underneath them or even large objects underneath them.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A similar incident happened with Cruise just a few years ago. If this is your first time hearing about Cruise, it’s probably because the company shut down last year.\u003c/span>\u003cb>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/b>\u003cb>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cruise was the robotaxi service owned by General Motors. They were actually the first company to receive California’s Driverless Deployment Permit, in 2022. They had a modest fleet, a couple hundred cars in San Francisco, and planned to expand to other cities. They were actually bigger than Waymo back then. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Until, in 2023, when one of Cruise’s driverless cars hit a pedestrian. Instead of stopping, the car ran her over and continued driving, dragging her for about 20 feet until it finally stopped at a curb , still on top of the pedestrian. She was critically injured in the crash. The California DMV revoked Cruise’s license and ordered the company to suspend operations in the state. That was in late 2023 and Waymo opened to the public in California in 2024. But KitKat’s death rehashes the same concerns that people had over Cruise. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Joe Eskenazi:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> These incidents are, you know, kind of like, uh, a broad daylight shooting in a suburban neighborhood. It’s something that is unusual. We have seen that the cars are not infallible and what’s worse there, there are holes in the technology. Not knowing there’s a person, or in this case, a small animal under your car, strikes me as something that you could improve on. It strikes me as a safety hazard. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Waymo’s been facing a bit of a PR crisis over KitKat’s death. It doesn’t help that on the same day of the accident, just hours before KitKat was fatally struck by a Waymo, the company’s co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana appeared on TechCrunch’s Disrupt stage. This exchange went viral: \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Clip from TechCrunch’s Disrupt stage]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Kirsten Korosec: Will society accept a death potentially caused by a robot? \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Takedra Mawakana: I think that society will, I think the challenge for us is making sure that society has a high enough bar on safety that companies are held to. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, after those comments, the company faced immense backlash when news of KitKat’s death broke. Waymo made a statement four days after KitKat died. They apologized and said they’d make a donation to a local animal rights organization in KitKat’s honor. But skepticism about the safety risks of autonomous technology has only continued to build. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Joe Eskenazi:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> So those are all things to be concerned about, regardless of how many cats are struck by human drivers every day. And regardless of how safe Waymo is, by and large. Uh, frankly, I have to tell you, I’ve been more than a little disappointed by the simplistic whataboutism of people who simply wanna shrug their shoulders and say ‘They’re safer than humans. What do you want?’ I think that it could do better. I think that both the corporation and the vehicles could do better.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And it turns out a lot of other people feel the same way.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cb>Joe Eskenazi:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> What sparks anger and movements is not always what you think it is. In this case, yes, a cat was run over, which happens all the time, every day. But you know, this strikes me as being, uh, a tipping point type situation. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This backlash is coming at a time when Waymo is really expanding. In parts of the Bay Area and Southern California, they’re even allowed on freeways. Last month, amid the KitKat backlash, Waymo launched in Miami, with plans to roll out its cars in ten more cities over the next year. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s clear there’s a lot of buzz around Waymos. But the critics are gaining some steam, thanks to the tragedy that befell KitKat. And that brings us back to the rally, in front of Randa’s Market, a week after KitKat was killed. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Crowd Chanting “KitKat, KitKat, KitKat”]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So how are organizers, advocates, and politicians using the momentum from this incident to push back against the ever-expanding reach of self-driving car companies?\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s a new tab … but first, a quick break. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ok we’re back. Let’s open a new tab.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[SFX keyboard sounds]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">KitKat the tech martyr\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[SFX tab sequence]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003c/b>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">About a week after KitKat’s death, San Francisco Supervisor Jackie Fielder hosted the memorial rally for KitKat, in front of the corner store he’d called home for years. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Memorial Rally for KitKat]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Supervisor Jackie Fielder: Local communities deserve a say over our streets and over the technologies that affect us. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Supervisor Fielder was one of several speakers at the makeshift podium. An officer from the local Teamsters chapter raised concerns about autonomous vehicles taking human jobs. A public transit advocate questioned why the city was investing so heavily in robotaxis, while San Francisco’s trains and buses face a huge funding deficit. And a few spoke out about the safety issues. They came from different backgrounds, but shared the same point: why didn’t their community get a say in allowing Waymos?\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Here’s how Justin Dole, a bar owner and president of the organization Small Business Forward, put it when it was his turn to speak at the rally: \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Memorial Rally for KitKat]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cb>\u003ci>Justin Dole: \u003c/i>\u003c/b>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> I think that’s why people have been so profoundly disturbed by KitKat’s death. The mayor of this space, as he was known, was taken from us by a technology that none of us asked for and crucially, to the point of this resolution, none of us consented to. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> And that’s at the heart of a new legislative push from Supervisor Fielder. KQED reporter Sydney Johnson, who we heard from at the top of the episode, has been reporting on the rideshare industry here in California. She actually lives in the Mission — KitKat’s home turf. Sydney’s going to walk us through this legislative battle. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> There have been no shortage of, you know, efforts in Sacramento to try and carve out laws around robotaxis, which is this really relatively new technology and, and area of law also. And a lot of those have faced, you know, lobbying and have just had a pretty difficult time getting through the legislature.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">At the rally, our local supervisor, Jackie Fielder, along with other community and labor leaders were calling on state lawmakers to revisit legislation that was actually proposed last year, but failed. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sydney’s talking about SB-915, a California senate bill that would have allowed local cities to vote on whether to allow robotaxis on their streets. Supporters said that it gives residents more agency. Critics of the bill said that it would make rides between different towns or municipalities an absolute nightmare.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> One of the biggest, uh, points of opposition to that piece of legislation was that it would create this, you know, really messy patchwork of different policies where maybe you have a robo taxi that can get you around one tiny city, but you can’t actually get to your destination, which is two towns over because this city in the middle voted against it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> So that ultimately failed. It did not get the support it needed to pass. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">H\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">owever, there was still a lot of interest in finding a way to still provide some, you know, democratic framework for this technology, which currently for robotaxi companies, they only need to receive permits from the state level in order to operate.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And they’ve received that for multiple cities and California and a few other places around the country. But these lawmakers who were supporting, uh, this law last year and, and now Jackie Fielder who’s asking lawmakers to revisit it, wanna see the effort not completely die since it didn’t work around city to city regulation, but are hoping to kind of broaden that a little bit at looking at the county level. So having the county of San Francisco or the county of Alameda, you know, these various kind of larger jurisdictions, voters there can decide whether robo taxis can operate on their streets.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As a city supervisor, Jackie Fielder can’t introduce state legislation herself, but she’s still using this moment to shine a spotlight on the issue.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung in tape:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Can you talk about how lawmakers and public transit advocates are using this momentum from this cat’s death to push for new action around Waymo’s and other Robotaxis? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> What’s interesting about this story and about Kit Kat is it seems to have gotten bigger than California, and certainly bigger than San Francisco where this happened. Um. There were stories about KitKat in the Washington Post, in the New York Times. We were seeing stories on CNN about this cat who was killed by a Waymo and just the heartbreak that came as a result of that. And so local lawmakers here in San Francisco really latched onto that. You know, we, we see this with all different types of legislation when there’s a viral moment and a lawmaker might try to attach some sort of policy idea to that moment and, and, you know, kind of ride some of the energy and life that that story has via that virality.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Um, and we certainly saw that here with KitKat and how supervisor Jackie Fielder said, Hey, we need to start talking about this again before things get worse. But, you know, some tragedy has already happened here. And voters, at least who were showing up to this rally, uh, were pretty open about the fact that they wanted to see some sort of either restrictions or at least have the option to vote on whether Waymo’s can operate and, and roam the streets.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You know, It still remains to be seen if lawmakers in Sacramento are going to pick this up. Um, but certainly here there’s been some, uh, support bubbling for it. I think that it has really just become a symbol for so many different things. Whether it’s concerns about AI taking jobs or safety, or sustainability with transit. You know, I think a lot of people have been able to impress their message onto KitKat’s death.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> These critiques of automated technology have been around for decades. But it’s only recently that they’ve taken a hold in mainstream, public conversation as autonomous vehicles advance and spread across the country. Waymo may be leading the race, but competitors are sprinting to cash in on the robotaxi wars. Uber, Zoox, Nvdia, Tesla, and like, every car manufacturer are all investing in and testing and launching their own versions of a driverless ride service.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Joe, the managing editor at Mission Local, says KitKat became a flashpoint for these larger tensions playing out in San Francisco and beyond.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Joe Eskenazi:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Just on the base level, this, what you’re describing here is a proxy war between the technology companies and the Teamsters unions. And so you can basically see, you know, which politicians are more aligned with the big money tech companies. And Waymo is owned by Google, which, you know, uh, draws a lot of water in this town to use the Big Lebowski line.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Uh, they’re, they are, they are big players, you know, with, with no small amount of lobbying money and no small amount of interest in this state and in this county San Francisco. Is it possible that in the future this legislation could be adopted? I get the sad feeling that something terrible needs to happen.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Here’s Oscar, the Mission Local reporter.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Oscar Palma:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Yeah, I mean, this is something that I, I, I think about just in my everyday life, um, like a cyclist usually has to die for the city to build the proper infrastructure, um, in a section of the city. And it’s, it’s sad that we have to get to that point to, to see the changes that a lot of us want to see.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So clearly, KitKat has become a symbol of something bigger — let’s talk about what his death means. How about one last tab? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[SFX keyboard typing] \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">KitKat’s legacy \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">SFX tab sequence]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This month, Randa’s Market welcomed a new bodega cat: Coco, a white six-month-old kitten, with a black nose and ink-tipped ears. She was a gift, from a neighbor to the store’s owner. But KitKat hasn’t been forgotten — if anything, he’s remembered as a folk hero, who represented a version of San Francisco that doesn’t exist anymore. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> I mean, talking to people who lived on 16th Street, talking to bartenders around there, you know, people who just feel like their community has been changing, you know, for decades really, but especially in the last few years it’s felt like so much has really accelerated and just seeing this clash of this hyper new technology. These like, you know, sleek driverless cars, quite literally crush a bodega cat is just such a stark image of seeing, you know, this sort of San Francisco that wants to resist all the ways that technology is now quite literally displacing people, animals, you know, a, a city that was once affordable to artists and creatives and teachers and, you know, working class folks.\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This whole story really kind of characterized I think some of that disappointment and sadness that people have about having no say or no control over the quote unquote progress that’s happening around them.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, knowing that, there’s a real ironic twist to this story. KitKat, the adorable face of resistance to encroaching tech, is now also a meme coin. And yes for the uninitiated, that’s a cryptocurrency thing. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> So now you know there is an altar on 16th Street for KitKat, but he will forever be immortalized on the blockchain as a crypto coin also.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">KITKATCOIN launched without the knowledge of KitKat’s actual family, but the store owner’s son has since taken over. He says he donated the first $10,000 of proceeds to an animal rights group. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> And I believe that it hit its peak on Halloween, which was just a few days after KitKat’s death. Um, but pretty shortly after that the value of this crypto coin just plummeted. Uh, which if you’ve followed these meme coins before is a pretty typical story. But I think with this, you know, it really. Just sort of epitomizes the virality of this story and how it took on a life of its own online. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, there’s KitKat the tech martyr and KitKat the meme coin, immortalized on the blockchain. In the Mission, locals just remember KitKat the bodega cat. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Oscar Palma:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> I think people would remember him first as a friend, uh, second as a member of that community. I think KitKat encompassed everything that this, like one block of resistance,in the mission, um, against, um, waves of gentrification. I always think about this block in a very romantic old school San Francisco way. You have this like feeling of like people mourning this loss together and this like very, um, deep connection that everyone had with each other.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You know, like I went to report the next night. Uh, and I went to Delirium and people were taking shots for KitKat. You know, like Delirium is right next to the liquor store. if you had been there, you would’ve seen the mood in the bar that night. Everyone was really quiet. Everyone was really sad, and people were taking shots for KitKat left and \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So pour one out for KitKat. We’d usually close all these tabs, but today? Let’s leave his open a little longer. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And by the way — Close All Tabs is taking a break for the holidays. We’ll see you in the new year, with brand new deep dives! For now, we’re wrapping up this year — in honor of our friend KitKat.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Close All Tabs is a production of KQED Studios, and is reported and hosted by me, Morgan Sung.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This episode was produced by Maya Cueva, and edited by Chris Egusa.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Close All Tabs producer is Maya Cueva, Chris Hambrick is our editor. Chris Egusa is our Senior Editor, and composed our theme song and credits music. Additional music by APM.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Brendan Willard is our audio engineer.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is KQED’s Director of Podcasts. Katie Sprenger is our Podcast Operations Manager, and Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. San Francisco Northern California Local.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Keyboard sounds were recorded on my purple and pink Dustsilver K-84 wired mechanical keyboard with Gateron Red switches. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ok, and I know it’s podcast cliche, but if you like these deep dives, and want us to keep making more, it would really help us out if you could rate and review us on Spotify, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to the show. Also, we want to hear from you! Email us CloseAllTabs@kqed.org. Follow us on instagram at “close all tabs pod.” Or TikTok at “close all tabs.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thanks for listening!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"description": "When KitKat, a beloved bodega cat, was killed by a Waymo in San Francisco in late October of this year, the incident quickly went viral. It ignited grief and outrage. It also renewed scrutiny of autonomous vehicles. But in a city where hundreds of animals are hit by vehicles each year, why did this incident — and this particular cat — hit such a nerve? We hear from Oscar Palma, the first reporter on the scene, about what unfolded the night KitKat was killed. Then, Mission Local managing editor Joe Eskenazi and KQED reporter Sydney Johnson explore the limits of autonomous vehicles and why one cat’s death resonated so deeply in a rapidly gentrifying San Francisco.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#episode-transcript\">\u003ci>View the full episode transcript.\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When KitKat, a beloved bodega cat, was killed by a Waymo in San Francisco in late October of this year, the incident quickly went viral. It ignited grief and outrage. It also renewed scrutiny of autonomous vehicles. But in a city where hundreds of animals are hit by vehicles each year, why did this incident — and this particular cat — hit such a nerve? \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">We hear from Oscar Palma, the first reporter on the scene, about what unfolded the night KitKat was killed. Then, Mission Local managing editor Joe Eskenazi and KQED reporter Sydney Johnson explore the limits of autonomous vehicles and why one cat’s death resonated so deeply in a rapidly gentrifying San Francisco.\u003c/span>\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=KQINC5106693547\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guests: \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/sjohnson\">Sydney Johnson\u003c/a>, reporter at KQED \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://missionlocal.org/author/oscarp/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oscar Palma\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, reporter at Mission Local\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://missionlocal.org/joe-eskenazi/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Joe Eskenazi\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, managing editor at Mission Local\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Further Reading:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://missionlocal.org/2025/10/kitkat-mission-liquor-store-mascot-and-16th-st-ambassador-killed-on-monday/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">KitKat, liquor store mascot and ‘16th St. ambassador,’ killed — allegedly by Waymo\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> — Oscar Palma, \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mission Local\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12062777/san-francisco-supervisor-calls-for-robotaxi-reform-after-waymo-kills-neighborhood-cat\">San Francisco Supervisor Calls for Robotaxi Reform After Waymo Kills Neighborhood Cat \u003c/a>\u003ci>— Sydney Johnson, \u003ci>KQED\u003c/i>\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/us/waymo-kit-kat-san-francisco.html\">How Kit Kat Was Killed: Video Shows What a Waymo Couldn’t See \u003c/a>— Heather Knight, \u003ci>The New York Times \u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/12/30/1222083720/driverless-cars-gm-cruise-waymo-san-francisco-accidents\">Driverless car startup Cruise’s no good, terrible year\u003c/a> — Dara Kerr, \u003ci>NPR\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/2024/11/14/cruise-fine-investigation-dragging-robotaxi/\">Cruise admits lying to feds about dragging woman in San Francisco\u003c/a> — Kevin Truong, \u003ci>The San Francisco Standard\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://missionlocal.org/2025/12/waymo-confirms-its-car-hit-dog-in-western-addition/\">Waymo hits dog in S.F. weeks after killing Mission bodega cat\u003c/a> — Kelly Waldron, \u003ci>Mission Local\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kron4.com/news/technology-ai/dog-hit-by-waymo-in-sf-put-down-by-family-after-suffering-severe-pelvic-trauma/\">Dog hit by Waymo in SF put down by family after suffering ‘severe pelvic trauma’\u003c/a> — Alex Baker, \u003ci>KRON4\u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.economist.com/business/2025/11/24/the-self-driving-taxi-revolution-begins-at-last\">The self-driving taxi revolution begins at last\u003c/a> — \u003ci>The Economist \u003c/i>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Want to give us feedback on the show? Shoot us an email at \u003ca href=\"mailto:CloseAllTabs@KQED.org\">CloseAllTabs@KQED.org\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Follow us on\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/closealltabspod/\"> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Instagram\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.tiktok.com/@closealltabs\"> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">TikTok\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\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>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Crowd Chanting “KitKat! KitKat!” ]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung, Host: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Last month, KQED reporter Sydney Johnson covered an event in her neighborhood, that was part memorial service, part rally, in San Francisco’s Mission District. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dozens of residents gathered in front of Randa’s Market to remember KitKat, the store’s beloved 9-year-old tabby cat. KitKat was more than a bodega cat — he was known as the Mayor of 16th street. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sydney Johnson, Guest:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> There were dozens of people there, you know, chitchatting. uh, many of them lived in the neighborhood and were giving each other hugs and, you know, talking about memories that they had of walking by the market after a late night and petting KitKat or, you know, maybe on their way to work and, and giving him a little scratch, uh, when they popped in for a drink in the morning.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">KitKat’s death was particularly devastating for the neighborhood, because it wasn’t old age, or sickness, or even human cruelty that killed him. It was a \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Waymo. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> That’s the autonomous rideshare service, also known as a robotaxi.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> I’d say the vibe of this event was, you know, both. Mournful and, and somber. but also really angry and, and focused.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">KitKat was struck and killed in late October, and in the days after, locals mourned him by turning the tree in front of Randa’s Market into a makeshift shrine. Someone had attached a framed photo of KitKat to the tree, and others adorned the frame with flowers and a cat-sized crown. The base of the tree was overflowing with candles, bouquets, handwritten messages, and of course, cat treats. People even scattered KitKat’s namesake candy around the shrine. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">By the time the rally happened a week later, grief had become anger. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> But our local supervisor, you know, took some of that anger and outrage and. Really just said, this is a moment where we have to think about these technologies that are being deployed all around us \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Here’s San Francisco Supervisor Jackie Fielder at the rally. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Jackie Fielder at Rally]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The future of autonomous vehicles should be decided by people, not tech, oligarchs and their politicians. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Audience Member: Yes!\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jackie Fielder: Thank you all so much and rest in peace, KitKat. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">KitKat’s death sparked nationwide outrage. He’s become the face of resistance to robotaxis, AI, and the tech industry as a whole. In death, he’s become a viral sensation. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Clip from Australia News]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There’s a new social justice movement in San Francisco, sparked by the death of a beloved neighborhood cat that was killed by a driverless car.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Clip from Inside Edition] \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now fans of the adored feline are taking to social media demanding hashtag justice for Kit Kat. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Clip from Tiktok]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">People are mourning a true pillar of the community and who they call the mayor of 16th Street,\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Waymo, meanwhile, recently announced its expansion across California. The company has plans to deploy its robotaxis in San Diego, Sacramento, and lots in between. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sydney Johnson: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And so it kind of became, you know, more than just this cat who died. This is actually now something where people who have been, you know, nervous or uneasy about autonomous vehicles, uh, really had a moment where they were saying, Hey, let’s actually think about how we can avoid this kind of tragedy, uh, especially if it could get even worse in the future.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Waymo says its autonomous vehicles are safer than human drivers — at least, they have a lower crash rate. But these cars aren’t infallible. KitKat may be the most viral victim of a robotaxi crash, but he’s not the only one. His death has raised some major concerns about safety, especially as Waymo and other robotaxi companies vie to compete with human-driven rideshares. The loss of this little bodega cat might have sparked a movement … but can these giant tech companies really be reined in? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is Close All Tabs. I’m Morgan Sung, tech journalist, and your chronically online friend, here to open as many browser tabs as it takes to help you understand how the digital world affects our real lives. Let’s get into it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Waymos, and robotaxis as a whole, have been pretty controversial since they started hitting streets in 2020. While robotaxi supporters praise the convenience and supposed safety of self-driving cars, detractors have real concerns. They threaten jobs, they disrupt traffic, they can’t make the same decisions that a human driver can, which makes them a nuisance at best and at worst, a public safety hazard. Plus, they represent the tech industry’s rapid encroachment on local communities. Like we covered in one of our very first episodes of this show, it’s what makes Waymos so easy to vandalize: they’re a physical, tangible outlet for this collective anxiety and rage against Silicon Valley. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In Los Angeles, Dodgers fans celebrated their team’s World Series win by spray painting and smashing Waymos.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Videos of the vandalized cars went viral, with captions like “Justice for KitKat” and “Revenge for the bodega cat.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So why did this particular incident kick off such a firestorm? To unpack that, we need to return to the night KitKat was killed. What do we know, and what don’t we know, about what happened? Time to open a new tab. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[SFX typing]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What happened to KitKat? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[SFX tab sequence]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003c/b>\u003cb>Oscar Palma, Guest:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Every time I go to the Roxy, I would always make a point to stop by and then say hi to Kit Kat.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is Oscar Palma, a reporter at Mission Local, a news site that covers San Francisco. He was one of the first journalists to break the news of KitKat’s death. The Roxie is a local theater that shows indie and arthouse films. This area is a bustling social hub — there are bars, restaurants, comedy clubs and KitKat lived in the heart of it, in the corner store right next to the Roxie.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Oscar Palma: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">People were laughing and saying we call him the boss because he was checking on everyone, making sure that everything was working.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So the night of the incident, KitKat was doing what he did best: sauntering up and down the street, greeting bar patrons.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Oscar Palma:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> It was Monday night. I believe it was 11:40 pm and two witnesses who came up to me and they say, “Hey, we saw everything that happened.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">They came out of the bar, and so they saw the Waymo was picking up some passengers.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> While the Waymo idled at the curb, KitKat darted under the hood, settling in front of the car’s front tire. A bystander noticed the cat, and rushed over to lure him out. She recounted the night in an interview with the New York Times. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Meg Brigman in TikTok Clip]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">I bent down, his ears were back. He looked very stressed. I said, “KitKat, come here, come here.” Being so close to the car, I didn’t expect it to drive away.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oscar said that KitKat stood in front of the tire for about seven seconds, before he got spooked and retreated further under the car. The Waymo didn’t appear to sense KitKat, or the person crouched in front of the car. Instead, as surveillance footage obtained by the New York Times shows, the Waymo pulled forward. Here’s Oscar again.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Oscar Palma: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And so he ran over, um, half of his body. And so Kit Kat, um, made it on its own back to the sidewalk. But, um, our witnesses saw everything and they describe a very awful sight to see. Uh, pretty much seeing the last moment of KitKat being alive, and they say that the Waymo never really stopped.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">KitKat dragged himself to the sidewalk, but was gravely injured and spitting blood. A bartender called KitKat’s owner and rushed the cat to a nearby animal hospital, where he died.\u003c/span>\u003cb> \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oscar said that Mission Local requested a copy of Waymo’s footage from the accident, but the company didn’t respond. Here’s Joe Eskenazi, managing editor at Mission Local. He joined us for the conversation with Oscar.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Joe Eskenazi, Guest:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> So clearly, you know, the witnesses told Oscar that the cat had been idling in front of the car for seven seconds. Waymo simply said, the cat darted underneath the car. Both of those things can be true, but by omitting the first part, you’re not telling the full story. So, you know, presumably it’s all on film.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Waymo touts its safety record as significantly better than human drivers. The company reported that throughout June 2025, Waymos had 80% fewer injury-causing crashes. But autonomous vehicles aren’t able to replicate human thinking and reasoning. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For their story, Mission Local spoke with several experts on autonomous vehicles.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Joe Eskenazi:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Here’s the problem, is that human beings have what’s known as object permanence. When you hide your face from a baby, you know the baby is surprised to see that you can take your \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">fa\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> hand away and, and your face is still there. But you know, children who are even very young understand that your face doesn’t disappear. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Waymo cars don’t know that. Waymo cars don’t have the computational power, as amazing as they are, to know that the cat that, uh, was in front of the car for seven seconds and then walked under the car where there are not sensors is still a factor. You can’t really have the sensors on the bottom of the car because they get dirtied up so quickly. If you’ve ever touched the tires on your car, they’re really dirty, so they get dirtied up so quickly that you can’t really have sensors there. So, you know, these cars are susceptible to small objects like this being underneath the car.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">What happened to KitKat is not a one-off incident. Earlier this month, just weeks after a Waymo killed KitKat, another Waymo ran over an unleashed dog in San Francisco, about ten minutes from where KitKat was struck and killed. The dog’s owners decided to put him down due to severe pelvic injuries. Waymo reportedly offered to assist with the dog’s medical expenses, and offered to cover the cost of adopting a new pet.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Joe Eskenazi:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> People can say that human beings don’t drive as well as these vehicles. But we can also say that we’re seeing a pattern here of the autonomous vehicles being susceptible to small objects underneath them or even large objects underneath them.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A similar incident happened with Cruise just a few years ago. If this is your first time hearing about Cruise, it’s probably because the company shut down last year.\u003c/span>\u003cb>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/b>\u003cb>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cruise was the robotaxi service owned by General Motors. They were actually the first company to receive California’s Driverless Deployment Permit, in 2022. They had a modest fleet, a couple hundred cars in San Francisco, and planned to expand to other cities. They were actually bigger than Waymo back then. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Until, in 2023, when one of Cruise’s driverless cars hit a pedestrian. Instead of stopping, the car ran her over and continued driving, dragging her for about 20 feet until it finally stopped at a curb , still on top of the pedestrian. She was critically injured in the crash. The California DMV revoked Cruise’s license and ordered the company to suspend operations in the state. That was in late 2023 and Waymo opened to the public in California in 2024. But KitKat’s death rehashes the same concerns that people had over Cruise. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Joe Eskenazi:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> These incidents are, you know, kind of like, uh, a broad daylight shooting in a suburban neighborhood. It’s something that is unusual. We have seen that the cars are not infallible and what’s worse there, there are holes in the technology. Not knowing there’s a person, or in this case, a small animal under your car, strikes me as something that you could improve on. It strikes me as a safety hazard. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Waymo’s been facing a bit of a PR crisis over KitKat’s death. It doesn’t help that on the same day of the accident, just hours before KitKat was fatally struck by a Waymo, the company’s co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana appeared on TechCrunch’s Disrupt stage. This exchange went viral: \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Clip from TechCrunch’s Disrupt stage]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Kirsten Korosec: Will society accept a death potentially caused by a robot? \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Takedra Mawakana: I think that society will, I think the challenge for us is making sure that society has a high enough bar on safety that companies are held to. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, after those comments, the company faced immense backlash when news of KitKat’s death broke. Waymo made a statement four days after KitKat died. They apologized and said they’d make a donation to a local animal rights organization in KitKat’s honor. But skepticism about the safety risks of autonomous technology has only continued to build. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Joe Eskenazi:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> So those are all things to be concerned about, regardless of how many cats are struck by human drivers every day. And regardless of how safe Waymo is, by and large. Uh, frankly, I have to tell you, I’ve been more than a little disappointed by the simplistic whataboutism of people who simply wanna shrug their shoulders and say ‘They’re safer than humans. What do you want?’ I think that it could do better. I think that both the corporation and the vehicles could do better.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And it turns out a lot of other people feel the same way.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cb>Joe Eskenazi:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> What sparks anger and movements is not always what you think it is. In this case, yes, a cat was run over, which happens all the time, every day. But you know, this strikes me as being, uh, a tipping point type situation. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This backlash is coming at a time when Waymo is really expanding. In parts of the Bay Area and Southern California, they’re even allowed on freeways. Last month, amid the KitKat backlash, Waymo launched in Miami, with plans to roll out its cars in ten more cities over the next year. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s clear there’s a lot of buzz around Waymos. But the critics are gaining some steam, thanks to the tragedy that befell KitKat. And that brings us back to the rally, in front of Randa’s Market, a week after KitKat was killed. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Crowd Chanting “KitKat, KitKat, KitKat”]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So how are organizers, advocates, and politicians using the momentum from this incident to push back against the ever-expanding reach of self-driving car companies?\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s a new tab … but first, a quick break. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ok we’re back. Let’s open a new tab.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[SFX keyboard sounds]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">KitKat the tech martyr\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[SFX tab sequence]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003c/b>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">About a week after KitKat’s death, San Francisco Supervisor Jackie Fielder hosted the memorial rally for KitKat, in front of the corner store he’d called home for years. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Memorial Rally for KitKat]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Supervisor Jackie Fielder: Local communities deserve a say over our streets and over the technologies that affect us. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Supervisor Fielder was one of several speakers at the makeshift podium. An officer from the local Teamsters chapter raised concerns about autonomous vehicles taking human jobs. A public transit advocate questioned why the city was investing so heavily in robotaxis, while San Francisco’s trains and buses face a huge funding deficit. And a few spoke out about the safety issues. They came from different backgrounds, but shared the same point: why didn’t their community get a say in allowing Waymos?\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Here’s how Justin Dole, a bar owner and president of the organization Small Business Forward, put it when it was his turn to speak at the rally: \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Memorial Rally for KitKat]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cb>\u003ci>Justin Dole: \u003c/i>\u003c/b>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> I think that’s why people have been so profoundly disturbed by KitKat’s death. The mayor of this space, as he was known, was taken from us by a technology that none of us asked for and crucially, to the point of this resolution, none of us consented to. \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> And that’s at the heart of a new legislative push from Supervisor Fielder. KQED reporter Sydney Johnson, who we heard from at the top of the episode, has been reporting on the rideshare industry here in California. She actually lives in the Mission — KitKat’s home turf. Sydney’s going to walk us through this legislative battle. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> There have been no shortage of, you know, efforts in Sacramento to try and carve out laws around robotaxis, which is this really relatively new technology and, and area of law also. And a lot of those have faced, you know, lobbying and have just had a pretty difficult time getting through the legislature.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">At the rally, our local supervisor, Jackie Fielder, along with other community and labor leaders were calling on state lawmakers to revisit legislation that was actually proposed last year, but failed. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sydney’s talking about SB-915, a California senate bill that would have allowed local cities to vote on whether to allow robotaxis on their streets. Supporters said that it gives residents more agency. Critics of the bill said that it would make rides between different towns or municipalities an absolute nightmare.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> One of the biggest, uh, points of opposition to that piece of legislation was that it would create this, you know, really messy patchwork of different policies where maybe you have a robo taxi that can get you around one tiny city, but you can’t actually get to your destination, which is two towns over because this city in the middle voted against it.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> So that ultimately failed. It did not get the support it needed to pass. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">H\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">owever, there was still a lot of interest in finding a way to still provide some, you know, democratic framework for this technology, which currently for robotaxi companies, they only need to receive permits from the state level in order to operate.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And they’ve received that for multiple cities and California and a few other places around the country. But these lawmakers who were supporting, uh, this law last year and, and now Jackie Fielder who’s asking lawmakers to revisit it, wanna see the effort not completely die since it didn’t work around city to city regulation, but are hoping to kind of broaden that a little bit at looking at the county level. So having the county of San Francisco or the county of Alameda, you know, these various kind of larger jurisdictions, voters there can decide whether robo taxis can operate on their streets.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As a city supervisor, Jackie Fielder can’t introduce state legislation herself, but she’s still using this moment to shine a spotlight on the issue.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung in tape:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Can you talk about how lawmakers and public transit advocates are using this momentum from this cat’s death to push for new action around Waymo’s and other Robotaxis? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> What’s interesting about this story and about Kit Kat is it seems to have gotten bigger than California, and certainly bigger than San Francisco where this happened. Um. There were stories about KitKat in the Washington Post, in the New York Times. We were seeing stories on CNN about this cat who was killed by a Waymo and just the heartbreak that came as a result of that. And so local lawmakers here in San Francisco really latched onto that. You know, we, we see this with all different types of legislation when there’s a viral moment and a lawmaker might try to attach some sort of policy idea to that moment and, and, you know, kind of ride some of the energy and life that that story has via that virality.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Um, and we certainly saw that here with KitKat and how supervisor Jackie Fielder said, Hey, we need to start talking about this again before things get worse. But, you know, some tragedy has already happened here. And voters, at least who were showing up to this rally, uh, were pretty open about the fact that they wanted to see some sort of either restrictions or at least have the option to vote on whether Waymo’s can operate and, and roam the streets.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You know, It still remains to be seen if lawmakers in Sacramento are going to pick this up. Um, but certainly here there’s been some, uh, support bubbling for it. I think that it has really just become a symbol for so many different things. Whether it’s concerns about AI taking jobs or safety, or sustainability with transit. You know, I think a lot of people have been able to impress their message onto KitKat’s death.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> These critiques of automated technology have been around for decades. But it’s only recently that they’ve taken a hold in mainstream, public conversation as autonomous vehicles advance and spread across the country. Waymo may be leading the race, but competitors are sprinting to cash in on the robotaxi wars. Uber, Zoox, Nvdia, Tesla, and like, every car manufacturer are all investing in and testing and launching their own versions of a driverless ride service.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Joe, the managing editor at Mission Local, says KitKat became a flashpoint for these larger tensions playing out in San Francisco and beyond.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Joe Eskenazi:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Just on the base level, this, what you’re describing here is a proxy war between the technology companies and the Teamsters unions. And so you can basically see, you know, which politicians are more aligned with the big money tech companies. And Waymo is owned by Google, which, you know, uh, draws a lot of water in this town to use the Big Lebowski line.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Uh, they’re, they are, they are big players, you know, with, with no small amount of lobbying money and no small amount of interest in this state and in this county San Francisco. Is it possible that in the future this legislation could be adopted? I get the sad feeling that something terrible needs to happen.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Here’s Oscar, the Mission Local reporter.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Oscar Palma:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Yeah, I mean, this is something that I, I, I think about just in my everyday life, um, like a cyclist usually has to die for the city to build the proper infrastructure, um, in a section of the city. And it’s, it’s sad that we have to get to that point to, to see the changes that a lot of us want to see.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So clearly, KitKat has become a symbol of something bigger — let’s talk about what his death means. How about one last tab? \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[SFX keyboard typing] \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">KitKat’s legacy \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[\u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">SFX tab sequence]\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This month, Randa’s Market welcomed a new bodega cat: Coco, a white six-month-old kitten, with a black nose and ink-tipped ears. She was a gift, from a neighbor to the store’s owner. But KitKat hasn’t been forgotten — if anything, he’s remembered as a folk hero, who represented a version of San Francisco that doesn’t exist anymore. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> I mean, talking to people who lived on 16th Street, talking to bartenders around there, you know, people who just feel like their community has been changing, you know, for decades really, but especially in the last few years it’s felt like so much has really accelerated and just seeing this clash of this hyper new technology. These like, you know, sleek driverless cars, quite literally crush a bodega cat is just such a stark image of seeing, you know, this sort of San Francisco that wants to resist all the ways that technology is now quite literally displacing people, animals, you know, a, a city that was once affordable to artists and creatives and teachers and, you know, working class folks.\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This whole story really kind of characterized I think some of that disappointment and sadness that people have about having no say or no control over the quote unquote progress that’s happening around them.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, knowing that, there’s a real ironic twist to this story. KitKat, the adorable face of resistance to encroaching tech, is now also a meme coin. And yes for the uninitiated, that’s a cryptocurrency thing. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> So now you know there is an altar on 16th Street for KitKat, but he will forever be immortalized on the blockchain as a crypto coin also.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">KITKATCOIN launched without the knowledge of KitKat’s actual family, but the store owner’s son has since taken over. He says he donated the first $10,000 of proceeds to an animal rights group. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> And I believe that it hit its peak on Halloween, which was just a few days after KitKat’s death. Um, but pretty shortly after that the value of this crypto coin just plummeted. Uh, which if you’ve followed these meme coins before is a pretty typical story. But I think with this, you know, it really. Just sort of epitomizes the virality of this story and how it took on a life of its own online. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, there’s KitKat the tech martyr and KitKat the meme coin, immortalized on the blockchain. In the Mission, locals just remember KitKat the bodega cat. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Oscar Palma:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> I think people would remember him first as a friend, uh, second as a member of that community. I think KitKat encompassed everything that this, like one block of resistance,in the mission, um, against, um, waves of gentrification. I always think about this block in a very romantic old school San Francisco way. You have this like feeling of like people mourning this loss together and this like very, um, deep connection that everyone had with each other.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">You know, like I went to report the next night. Uh, and I went to Delirium and people were taking shots for KitKat. You know, like Delirium is right next to the liquor store. if you had been there, you would’ve seen the mood in the bar that night. Everyone was really quiet. Everyone was really sad, and people were taking shots for KitKat left and \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cb>Morgan Sung: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So pour one out for KitKat. We’d usually close all these tabs, but today? Let’s leave his open a little longer. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">And by the way — Close All Tabs is taking a break for the holidays. We’ll see you in the new year, with brand new deep dives! For now, we’re wrapping up this year — in honor of our friend KitKat.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Close All Tabs is a production of KQED Studios, and is reported and hosted by me, Morgan Sung.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This episode was produced by Maya Cueva, and edited by Chris Egusa.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Close All Tabs producer is Maya Cueva, Chris Hambrick is our editor. Chris Egusa is our Senior Editor, and composed our theme song and credits music. Additional music by APM.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Brendan Willard is our audio engineer.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is KQED’s Director of Podcasts. Katie Sprenger is our Podcast Operations Manager, and Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. San Francisco Northern California Local.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Keyboard sounds were recorded on my purple and pink Dustsilver K-84 wired mechanical keyboard with Gateron Red switches. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ok, and I know it’s podcast cliche, but if you like these deep dives, and want us to keep making more, it would really help us out if you could rate and review us on Spotify, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to the show. Also, we want to hear from you! Email us CloseAllTabs@kqed.org. Follow us on instagram at “close all tabs pod.” Or TikTok at “close all tabs.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thanks for listening!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>"
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"title": "Waymo, Uber, Lyft to Expand on SF’s Market Street, Despite Pushback From Transit Groups",
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"content": "\u003cp>Ride-hailing companies will be allowed to serve riders on San Francisco’s Market Street 24 hours a day starting later this month, despite pleas from safe streets activists \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12053305/advocates-warn-of-dangerous-and-chaotic-market-st-as-it-reopens-to-some-cars\">to return to a car-free roadway\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Waymo and select Uber and Lyft vehicles are set to enter the third and final phase of a pilot program to allow the companies to drop off and pick up passengers on the road that’s been shuttered to cars since 2020, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Director Julie Kirschbaum told the organization’s Board of Directors Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So far, activity has been fairly limited, and importantly, there have been no detrimental outcomes to our key transportation metrics,” Kirschbaum said. “Based on their findings, I believe this is a good time to shift to the next stage.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In August, the city allowed Waymo, Lyft and Uber Black cars to begin dropping off and picking up riders at seven loading bays along a two-mile stretch of Market Street during limited hours, in accordance with city policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The commercial vehicles have not been legally obligated to stay off the road under SFMTA traffic regulations, though \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12035348/mayor-lurie-allows-waymo-on-sfs-car-free-market-street\">Waymo confirmed in April that it had\u003c/a> voluntarily refrained from operating there until the summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12053385\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12053385\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/IMG_0527_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/IMG_0527_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/IMG_0527_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/IMG_0527_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An Uber and Lyft driver drops off a customer in San Francisco’s downtown neighborhood on Aug. 31, 2015. \u003ccite>(Ericka Cruz Guevarra/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Market Street had been completely car-free since January 2020, after more than a decade of advocacy from biking, pedestrian and transit supporters. The move was part of the citywide “Better Market Street” \u003ca href=\"https://bettermarketstreetsf.org/about.html\">proposal\u003c/a>, which aimed to transform the city’s central roadway to “connect the City’s Civic Center with cultural, social, convention, tourism, and retail destinations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Mayor Daniel Lurie has said that reopening Market Street to some ride-hailing cars was key to his plan for downtown revitalization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Market Street corridor is key to our city’s recovery, and by thoughtfully expanding transportation options, we are going to bring residents and visitors back to enjoy everything Market Street has to offer,” he said in a statement when the pilot launched in August. “We are identifying the tools to get people back to our theaters, hotels, and restaurants, and drive San Francisco’s comeback.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the past three months, Waymo has been allowed to pick up and drop off passengers at seven locations between Fifth and Eighth streets between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., and overnight from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. They’ve had permission to drive on the strip between Van Ness Avenue and Steuart Street.[aside postID=news_12063805 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/WaymoSFGetty.jpg']Uber and Lyft Black — or premium line — cars have been allowed to operate at those same locations during the evening and night hours, from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, Jenny Delumo with SFMTA’s Streets Division said there’s been virtually no impact on travel time along Market, and no decrease in Muni ridership or bike use. She did note, however, that some bikers and pedestrians have raised concerns about the vehicles’ return.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kirschbaum said that SFMTA will continue monitoring impacts as companies scale up their operations. The agency plans to return to the board of directors in mid-2026 with a full evaluation of the pilot program and recommendations for future vehicle access.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the Mid Market Community Benefits District, a nonprofit that promotes local businesses, praised the rideshare expansion and asked SFMTA to reopen Market Street to all traffic, safe street advocacy groups are pushing for the city to reverse course.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Bicycle Coalition Executive Director Christopher White said the organization’s thousand members are feeling the impact of a more crowded roadway during public comment at SFMTA’s meeting on Tuesday. He also questioned the value of opening the road, claiming that the ride-hailing apps have continued to avoid drop-offs and pick-ups because the seven loading bays are often full.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944379\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11944379 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS16535_IMG_0443.JPG-scaled-e1764810192572.jpg\" alt=\"A closeup shot of a black vehicle with a pink Lyft sticker and a black and white Uber sticker on the left side of its windshield. The vehicle sits idle, waiting to pick up a customer.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Francisco Transit officials greenlit an expansion of rideshare operations to 24-hour-a-day service on San Francisco’s downtown Market Street. \u003ccite>(Ericka Cruz Guevarra/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>At the same time, though, he said the expansion has led to “more private vehicles illegally driving on Market Street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And who can blame them, when to all appearances, Market Street is back open to cars?” White said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Walk SF Executive Director Jodie Medeiros urged SFMTA to adopt its own community advisory committee’s motion, presented last month, to close the loophole in city policy that allows commercial vehicles to operate. The committee recommended limiting commercial operations to just goods deliveries to businesses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can’t go back to a dangerous and chaotic Market Street,” she said. “More autonomous vehicle companies, including Tesla, are coming to San Francisco streets and will bring thousands more trips every day. And they’ll want, or just take, the access that Waymo is getting now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If it becomes a dangerous, congested mess again, it is going to seriously harm transit service and safety, and it certainly will not help the economic recovery of downtown,” she continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Ride-hailing companies will be allowed to serve riders on San Francisco’s Market Street 24 hours a day starting later this month, despite pleas from safe streets activists \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12053305/advocates-warn-of-dangerous-and-chaotic-market-st-as-it-reopens-to-some-cars\">to return to a car-free roadway\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Waymo and select Uber and Lyft vehicles are set to enter the third and final phase of a pilot program to allow the companies to drop off and pick up passengers on the road that’s been shuttered to cars since 2020, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Director Julie Kirschbaum told the organization’s Board of Directors Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So far, activity has been fairly limited, and importantly, there have been no detrimental outcomes to our key transportation metrics,” Kirschbaum said. “Based on their findings, I believe this is a good time to shift to the next stage.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In August, the city allowed Waymo, Lyft and Uber Black cars to begin dropping off and picking up riders at seven loading bays along a two-mile stretch of Market Street during limited hours, in accordance with city policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The commercial vehicles have not been legally obligated to stay off the road under SFMTA traffic regulations, though \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12035348/mayor-lurie-allows-waymo-on-sfs-car-free-market-street\">Waymo confirmed in April that it had\u003c/a> voluntarily refrained from operating there until the summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12053385\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12053385\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/IMG_0527_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/IMG_0527_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/IMG_0527_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/IMG_0527_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An Uber and Lyft driver drops off a customer in San Francisco’s downtown neighborhood on Aug. 31, 2015. \u003ccite>(Ericka Cruz Guevarra/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Market Street had been completely car-free since January 2020, after more than a decade of advocacy from biking, pedestrian and transit supporters. The move was part of the citywide “Better Market Street” \u003ca href=\"https://bettermarketstreetsf.org/about.html\">proposal\u003c/a>, which aimed to transform the city’s central roadway to “connect the City’s Civic Center with cultural, social, convention, tourism, and retail destinations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Mayor Daniel Lurie has said that reopening Market Street to some ride-hailing cars was key to his plan for downtown revitalization.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Market Street corridor is key to our city’s recovery, and by thoughtfully expanding transportation options, we are going to bring residents and visitors back to enjoy everything Market Street has to offer,” he said in a statement when the pilot launched in August. “We are identifying the tools to get people back to our theaters, hotels, and restaurants, and drive San Francisco’s comeback.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the past three months, Waymo has been allowed to pick up and drop off passengers at seven locations between Fifth and Eighth streets between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., and overnight from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. They’ve had permission to drive on the strip between Van Ness Avenue and Steuart Street.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Uber and Lyft Black — or premium line — cars have been allowed to operate at those same locations during the evening and night hours, from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, Jenny Delumo with SFMTA’s Streets Division said there’s been virtually no impact on travel time along Market, and no decrease in Muni ridership or bike use. She did note, however, that some bikers and pedestrians have raised concerns about the vehicles’ return.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kirschbaum said that SFMTA will continue monitoring impacts as companies scale up their operations. The agency plans to return to the board of directors in mid-2026 with a full evaluation of the pilot program and recommendations for future vehicle access.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the Mid Market Community Benefits District, a nonprofit that promotes local businesses, praised the rideshare expansion and asked SFMTA to reopen Market Street to all traffic, safe street advocacy groups are pushing for the city to reverse course.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Bicycle Coalition Executive Director Christopher White said the organization’s thousand members are feeling the impact of a more crowded roadway during public comment at SFMTA’s meeting on Tuesday. He also questioned the value of opening the road, claiming that the ride-hailing apps have continued to avoid drop-offs and pick-ups because the seven loading bays are often full.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944379\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11944379 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS16535_IMG_0443.JPG-scaled-e1764810192572.jpg\" alt=\"A closeup shot of a black vehicle with a pink Lyft sticker and a black and white Uber sticker on the left side of its windshield. The vehicle sits idle, waiting to pick up a customer.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Francisco Transit officials greenlit an expansion of rideshare operations to 24-hour-a-day service on San Francisco’s downtown Market Street. \u003ccite>(Ericka Cruz Guevarra/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>At the same time, though, he said the expansion has led to “more private vehicles illegally driving on Market Street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And who can blame them, when to all appearances, Market Street is back open to cars?” White said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Walk SF Executive Director Jodie Medeiros urged SFMTA to adopt its own community advisory committee’s motion, presented last month, to close the loophole in city policy that allows commercial vehicles to operate. The committee recommended limiting commercial operations to just goods deliveries to businesses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can’t go back to a dangerous and chaotic Market Street,” she said. “More autonomous vehicle companies, including Tesla, are coming to San Francisco streets and will bring thousands more trips every day. And they’ll want, or just take, the access that Waymo is getting now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If it becomes a dangerous, congested mess again, it is going to seriously harm transit service and safety, and it certainly will not help the economic recovery of downtown,” she continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Select riders across more than 260 square miles of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/bay-area\">Bay Area\u003c/a> will now be able to hail a Waymo robotaxi, years after the driverless cars debuted in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The autonomous vehicle company began shuttling commercial passengers across Bay Area freeways and making trips to and from San José Mineta International Airport on Wednesday, marking a major expansion for the company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Achieving fully autonomous freeway operations is a profound engineering feat—easy to conceive, yet hard to truly master,” Waymo co-CEO Dmitri Dolgov said in a statement. “This milestone is a powerful testament to the maturity of our operations and technology.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Alphabet-owned company said that for more than a year, it’s been operating freeway rides for employees and their guests to ensure reliable and safe service. This week, it will begin making select commercial trips on freeways for the first time in the Bay Area, as well as Los Angeles and Phoenix, Arizona.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Following Phoenix’s Sky Harbor airport, San José’s airport is the second major airport in the nation to welcome the robotaxis, and first in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12053307\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12053307\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/231102-DriverlessTaxi-15-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/231102-DriverlessTaxi-15-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/231102-DriverlessTaxi-15-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/231102-DriverlessTaxi-15-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Waymo driverless taxi drives through Downtown San Francisco, California, on Nov. 2, 2023. \u003ccite>(Carlos Avila Gonzalez/SF Chronicle )\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Waymo’s arrival at San José Mineta International Airport demonstrates our City’s commitment to innovation and world-class service,” San José City Manager Jennifer Maguire said. “This partnership offers travelers a new level of convenience while reflecting the values and ingenuity that drive Silicon Valley.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Waymo will be able to pick up passengers at SJC’s Ground Transportation Centers in both terminals, and deliver them to some locations across the city, as well as north to the Peninsula and San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But not all riders will see the option to hail a robotaxi from the South Bay to San Francisco right away. Freeway rides will become available for select trips this week and roll out to more riders over time. People interested in getting earlier access can express interest in their Waymo app, according to the company.[aside postID=news_12063035 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251105-Waymo-Discriminate-03-KQED.jpg']“When a freeway route is meaningfully faster, riders can be matched with a freeway trip, providing quicker, smoother, and more efficient rides,” the company said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San José Mayor Matt Mahan said the expansion will allow visitors heading to the Bay Area for major sporting events in 2026, including Super Bowl LX and the World Cup, to step “into the future of mobility and entertainment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With San José at the center of the biggest sporting events of 2026, we’re helping deliver the most technologically advanced Super Bowl and World Cup experience ever,” he said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The scope of Waymo’s San José service will also initially be limited to the city center. Riders can call a car to the Santana Row and Westfield Valley Fair commercial areas or the Newhall, College Park and Cory neighborhoods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to SJC, the company plans to expand downtown and to other parts of the city over time, as it has elsewhere in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In August, Waymo led the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12053305/advocates-warn-of-dangerous-and-chaotic-market-st-as-it-reopens-to-some-cars\">return of ride-hailing services\u003c/a> on San Francisco’s Market Street, five years after it became car-free, and in September, it received a permit to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12056134/lurie-gives-waymo-green-light-to-prepare-for-service-to-sfo\">begin trips to and from San Francisco International Airport\u003c/a>. Commercial operations there won’t launch until it’s gone through a phased testing process. The timeline on that is unknown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Select riders across more than 260 square miles of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/bay-area\">Bay Area\u003c/a> will now be able to hail a Waymo robotaxi, years after the driverless cars debuted in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The autonomous vehicle company began shuttling commercial passengers across Bay Area freeways and making trips to and from San José Mineta International Airport on Wednesday, marking a major expansion for the company.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Achieving fully autonomous freeway operations is a profound engineering feat—easy to conceive, yet hard to truly master,” Waymo co-CEO Dmitri Dolgov said in a statement. “This milestone is a powerful testament to the maturity of our operations and technology.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Alphabet-owned company said that for more than a year, it’s been operating freeway rides for employees and their guests to ensure reliable and safe service. This week, it will begin making select commercial trips on freeways for the first time in the Bay Area, as well as Los Angeles and Phoenix, Arizona.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Following Phoenix’s Sky Harbor airport, San José’s airport is the second major airport in the nation to welcome the robotaxis, and first in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12053307\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12053307\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/231102-DriverlessTaxi-15-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/231102-DriverlessTaxi-15-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/231102-DriverlessTaxi-15-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/231102-DriverlessTaxi-15-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Waymo driverless taxi drives through Downtown San Francisco, California, on Nov. 2, 2023. \u003ccite>(Carlos Avila Gonzalez/SF Chronicle )\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Waymo’s arrival at San José Mineta International Airport demonstrates our City’s commitment to innovation and world-class service,” San José City Manager Jennifer Maguire said. “This partnership offers travelers a new level of convenience while reflecting the values and ingenuity that drive Silicon Valley.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Waymo will be able to pick up passengers at SJC’s Ground Transportation Centers in both terminals, and deliver them to some locations across the city, as well as north to the Peninsula and San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But not all riders will see the option to hail a robotaxi from the South Bay to San Francisco right away. Freeway rides will become available for select trips this week and roll out to more riders over time. People interested in getting earlier access can express interest in their Waymo app, according to the company.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“When a freeway route is meaningfully faster, riders can be matched with a freeway trip, providing quicker, smoother, and more efficient rides,” the company said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San José Mayor Matt Mahan said the expansion will allow visitors heading to the Bay Area for major sporting events in 2026, including Super Bowl LX and the World Cup, to step “into the future of mobility and entertainment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With San José at the center of the biggest sporting events of 2026, we’re helping deliver the most technologically advanced Super Bowl and World Cup experience ever,” he said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The scope of Waymo’s San José service will also initially be limited to the city center. Riders can call a car to the Santana Row and Westfield Valley Fair commercial areas or the Newhall, College Park and Cory neighborhoods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to SJC, the company plans to expand downtown and to other parts of the city over time, as it has elsewhere in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In August, Waymo led the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12053305/advocates-warn-of-dangerous-and-chaotic-market-st-as-it-reopens-to-some-cars\">return of ride-hailing services\u003c/a> on San Francisco’s Market Street, five years after it became car-free, and in September, it received a permit to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12056134/lurie-gives-waymo-green-light-to-prepare-for-service-to-sfo\">begin trips to and from San Francisco International Airport\u003c/a>. Commercial operations there won’t launch until it’s gone through a phased testing process. The timeline on that is unknown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "waymo-alphabet-sued-for-bias-after-ai-allegedly-mislabels-sf-doctor-as-terrorist",
"title": "Waymo, Alphabet Sued for Bias After AI Allegedly Mislabels SF Doctor as Terrorist",
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"content": "\u003cp>After two years of trying and failing to sign up for\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/waymo\"> Waymo\u003c/a>, friends inside the company told Dr. Nasser Mohamed his Middle Eastern Muslim name set off the AI identity screening. But Dr. Mohamed alleges he couldn’t get a human to correct the error. So now he’s suing the company and its corporate parent, Alphabet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a lawsuit\u003ca href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/mohamed-v-waymo-complaint.pdf\"> filed\u003c/a> Tuesday in San Francisco Superior Court, the Qatari-born-and-raised-physician claimed Alphabet, Inc. and its subsidiary Waymo, LLC, discriminated against him based on ethnicity, religion, and national origin when they denied him equal access to their services after their artificial intelligence-powered identity verification program erroneously identified him as a terrorist on the U.S. Government’s Office of Foreign Assets Control Sanctions List.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My entire life and my background and my work are quite public,” Mohamed told KQED. “I’m a \u003ca href=\"https://www.osramedical.com/about/\">physician\u003c/a> and an LGBT rights activist based in San Francisco, California. And I’m known for my work within medicine, but also in civil rights work.” He was even elected to serve as Grand Marshall in the 2023 San Francisco Pride Parade. He’s served on the board of San Francisco Pride.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mohamed’s beef with Waymo and Alphabet goes beyond Alphabet using overly broad criteria that resulted in a “false positive” match and flagged him as a national security risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His repeated attempts to get Waymo employees to override the decision failed. “Literally, there is no mechanism in place for me to pursue, to go and escalate this. They were all dead ends.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mohamed is seeking damages and a ruling that would bar Waymo from using name-matching algorithms without human review.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12053307\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12053307\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/231102-DriverlessTaxi-15-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/231102-DriverlessTaxi-15-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/231102-DriverlessTaxi-15-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/231102-DriverlessTaxi-15-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Waymo driverless taxi drives through Downtown San Francisco, California, on Nov. 2, 2023. \u003ccite>(Carlos Avila Gonzalez/SF Chronicle )\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In response, a spokesperson wrote KQED, “We are committed to providing access to all in the communities we serve. We disagree with the claims made.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DQpxtK3Ev4p/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D\"> posted\u003c/a> on social media, Mohamed wrote, “This is not about conflict — it is about clarity, accountability, and ensuring that communities who have historically been subject to bias are not quietly left behind as technology evolves.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This case is not an anti-AI, anti-algorithm case,” added Shounak Dharap, Mohamed’s attorney, who teaches a course on applied AI for lawyers at the University of San Francisco School of Law, noting the case was brought under laws meant to protect Californians’ civil rights and prevent unfair business practices.[aside postID=news_12062777 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/20251104_SF-Waymo-resolution_GH-2_qed.jpg']Companies in numerous industries are facing lawsuits seeking to establish their liability for discrimination involving artificial intelligence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One example pending in federal court is Mobley v. Workday, in which a Black job applicant alleges the company’s AI-powered hiring tools discriminated against him and other applicants based on race, age, and disability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. Department of Justice, along with California and other states, is \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-files-lawsuit-against-realpage-unlawfully-enabling\">suing RealPage\u003c/a>, alleging that its algorithmic pricing software enabled landlords to collude and inflate rents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The same things that happen when people are in charge are gonna happen when algorithms are in charge of filtering information. But if there aren’t enough parameters and constraints, then we’re gonna be rolling back the time back to when we didn’t have the kind of civil rights protections we have now,” Dharap said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without more details from Waymo or Alphabet, it’s unclear how they are verifying customers’ identities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In fairness, I don’t know what Waymo is doing to verify identity,” wrote Hany Farid of UC Berkeley’s School of Information. “But if it is only doing a simplistic name matching, this is inexcusable because we now have fairly good technology to verify identity that is light years ahead of a simplistic (and lazy) name matching.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>After two years of trying and failing to sign up for\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/waymo\"> Waymo\u003c/a>, friends inside the company told Dr. Nasser Mohamed his Middle Eastern Muslim name set off the AI identity screening. But Dr. Mohamed alleges he couldn’t get a human to correct the error. So now he’s suing the company and its corporate parent, Alphabet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a lawsuit\u003ca href=\"https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/mohamed-v-waymo-complaint.pdf\"> filed\u003c/a> Tuesday in San Francisco Superior Court, the Qatari-born-and-raised-physician claimed Alphabet, Inc. and its subsidiary Waymo, LLC, discriminated against him based on ethnicity, religion, and national origin when they denied him equal access to their services after their artificial intelligence-powered identity verification program erroneously identified him as a terrorist on the U.S. Government’s Office of Foreign Assets Control Sanctions List.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My entire life and my background and my work are quite public,” Mohamed told KQED. “I’m a \u003ca href=\"https://www.osramedical.com/about/\">physician\u003c/a> and an LGBT rights activist based in San Francisco, California. And I’m known for my work within medicine, but also in civil rights work.” He was even elected to serve as Grand Marshall in the 2023 San Francisco Pride Parade. He’s served on the board of San Francisco Pride.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mohamed’s beef with Waymo and Alphabet goes beyond Alphabet using overly broad criteria that resulted in a “false positive” match and flagged him as a national security risk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His repeated attempts to get Waymo employees to override the decision failed. “Literally, there is no mechanism in place for me to pursue, to go and escalate this. They were all dead ends.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mohamed is seeking damages and a ruling that would bar Waymo from using name-matching algorithms without human review.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12053307\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12053307\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/231102-DriverlessTaxi-15-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/231102-DriverlessTaxi-15-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/231102-DriverlessTaxi-15-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/231102-DriverlessTaxi-15-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Waymo driverless taxi drives through Downtown San Francisco, California, on Nov. 2, 2023. \u003ccite>(Carlos Avila Gonzalez/SF Chronicle )\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In response, a spokesperson wrote KQED, “We are committed to providing access to all in the communities we serve. We disagree with the claims made.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement\u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DQpxtK3Ev4p/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D\"> posted\u003c/a> on social media, Mohamed wrote, “This is not about conflict — it is about clarity, accountability, and ensuring that communities who have historically been subject to bias are not quietly left behind as technology evolves.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This case is not an anti-AI, anti-algorithm case,” added Shounak Dharap, Mohamed’s attorney, who teaches a course on applied AI for lawyers at the University of San Francisco School of Law, noting the case was brought under laws meant to protect Californians’ civil rights and prevent unfair business practices.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Companies in numerous industries are facing lawsuits seeking to establish their liability for discrimination involving artificial intelligence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One example pending in federal court is Mobley v. Workday, in which a Black job applicant alleges the company’s AI-powered hiring tools discriminated against him and other applicants based on race, age, and disability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. Department of Justice, along with California and other states, is \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-files-lawsuit-against-realpage-unlawfully-enabling\">suing RealPage\u003c/a>, alleging that its algorithmic pricing software enabled landlords to collude and inflate rents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The same things that happen when people are in charge are gonna happen when algorithms are in charge of filtering information. But if there aren’t enough parameters and constraints, then we’re gonna be rolling back the time back to when we didn’t have the kind of civil rights protections we have now,” Dharap said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without more details from Waymo or Alphabet, it’s unclear how they are verifying customers’ identities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In fairness, I don’t know what Waymo is doing to verify identity,” wrote Hany Farid of UC Berkeley’s School of Information. “But if it is only doing a simplistic name matching, this is inexcusable because we now have fairly good technology to verify identity that is light years ahead of a simplistic (and lazy) name matching.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"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.",
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"soldout": {
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"title": "SOLD OUT: Rethinking Housing in America",
"tagline": "A new future for housing",
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