(NewsNation) — A San Francisco commission is set to discuss the expansion of driverless taxis in the city — but some officials are sounding the alarm on what they say are safety issues with the vehicles.
Companies Waymo and Cruise are looking to pick up fare-paying passengers 24 hours, seven days a week, in any type of weather.
But the Los Angeles Times reports that San Francisco Fire Chief Jeanine Nicholson is “fed up” with the robotaxis.
“They’re not ready for prime time,” Nicholson said, according to the news outlet.
Officials, the L.A. Times reported, have said the entire industry is moving too fast, and complained that driverless cabs have been in the way of emergency vehicles responding to incidents.
San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin said he’s been hearing about self-driving car issues more frequently, and recently snapped a picture of a Waymo car that blocked traffic for several minutes.
“Cruise primarily, and Waymo secondarily, have consistently refused to share data with the city,” Peskin said, according to NewsNation local affiliate KRON. “We learn more from social media and our experiences on the street than they are willing to share with us.”
In a statement to NewsNation, Cruise spokesperson Hannah Lindow said the company is proud of its safety record.
“We’ve received overwhelmingly supportive comments as we have sought to expand our service –– including from accessibility advocates, small businesses and local community groups –– and look forward to working with them and policymakers to make transportation safer and more accessible,” she said.
Cruise has about 300 vehicles operating across its markets in San Francisco, Phoenix, Arizona and Austin Texas, Lindow said.
NewsNation has reached out to Waymo for comment.
The California Public Utilities Commission was set to vote on the Cruise and Waymo expansion on June 29. But this agenda item was held “for further review,” according to city documents, and will instead be discussed on July 13.
“I’m not against the technology. I understand it’s important and it’s the way the industry is going,” Nicholson said. “But we need to fix what’s not working right now, before they are unleashed on the rest of the city.”
As of June 27, 2023, California’s DMV has received 617 Autonomous Vehicle Collision Reports. While state regulators track collisions, they don’t track data on traffic flow issues. However, the Fire Department does: the L.A. Times says they have logged at least 39 robotaxi incidents since Jan.1.
These include reports of robotaxis running through yellow emergency tape and entering streets strewn with “storm-damaged electrical wires;” blocking firehouse driveways; sitting motionless on a one-way street and forcing a fire truck to back up and take another route to a building on fire; and entering an active fire scene, “then parking with one of its tires on top of a fire hose.”
During a June shooting where nine people were injured, a robotaxi blocked a lane in front of emergency responders. No lives were lost in the shooting, the Associated Press said.
Another lane was open, the L.A. Times wrote, but the Fire Department said the blockage would have been “catastrophic” on a narrower street.