California Approves Autonomous Cars Over Local Concerns

The California Public Utilities Commission approved the further deployment of Cruise and Waymo self-driving cars in San Francisco, reports Lynn La in CALmatters. “After six-and-a-half hours of public comment, the commission voted 3-1 to permit the two companies to expand their driverless car operations, enabling them to charge passengers for driverless rides without a human safety driver present, at all hours.”

Planetizen has documented the ‘mayhem’ (in the words of city officials) caused by autonomous cars in San Francisco, where cars have blocked traffic and crashed into emergency response scenes. While proponents of autonomous cars say the vehicles will make roads safer, incidents like this Tesla crash highlight how far the technology still has to go.

According to a Washington Post article by Trisha Thadani and Jeremy B. Merrill, “Aaron Peskin, president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and a frequent critic of the self-driving cars, said he, Mayor London Breed and members of the city’s transportation agencies planned to meet after the vote to ‘discuss next steps.’ He said it is ‘likely’ the city would file for a rehearing, which would be a precursor to litigation against the commission.”