What’s all the fuss about?
If you live in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood, you’ve probably heard the seemingly nonstop honking of self-driving cars.
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Specifically, we’re talking about the Alphabet-backed ones. (Google) Waymo’s taxi robots that have been blow their horns In the parking lot at midnight.
Waymo’s distinctive white Jaguar cars are programmed to honk when they sense a nearby vehicle that might collide with them.
A Waymo spokesperson said the company has updated the software, which “will keep noise down for our neighbors as we move forward.”
Self-driving vehicles have made all sorts of noise on their slow and often uneven journey toward mainstream acceptance.
However, a study conducted by Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association A recent US study showed that self-driving cars have traveled nearly 70 million miles on public roads in the United States, which is equivalent to 293 round trips to the moon or driving along Route 66 more than 29,000 times.
“From trucks to robotaxi to passenger-free delivery vehicles, we’re seeing a 59% increase in miles driven by autonomous vehicles since we last reported this figure nine months ago, a testament to the growth and success of the industry,” said Jeff Farah, CEO of the group. “And that number is growing every day.”
On the other hand, motorists don’t seem to feel any kind of love towards automated vehicles. american auto association A survey found that nine out of ten drivers were afraid or unsure about riding in fully autonomous vehicles.
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“Recently, there have been several well-publicized incidents where AV technology has failed, and this naturally makes some people skeptical about handing over complete control of the system,” Matthew Conde, AAA’s public affairs director for Idaho, said in a statement.
“The gradual introduction of proven technologies will be essential to making drivers more comfortable with the idea of a fully autonomous car,” he added.
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Despite concerns and technical difficulties, companies are still moving forward with their plans for self-driving vehicles.
Tesla (Tesla) Uber is set to unveil a robotaxi on October 11, after the world’s largest electric carmaker announced The original has been cleaned. It happened on August 8th.
Last month, Amazon owned (Amazon) Self-driving car company Zoox has announced that Austin, Texas, will be its fourth public test site. The cars will also be roaming the streets of Miami, Seattle, Las Vegas and the San Francisco Bay.
On August 22, Cruze, a subsidiary of General Motors, (General Motors) AV company and ride-hailing platform Uber (Uber) Uber has announced a multi-year partnership starting next year that will allow Uber riders to choose a ride using a self-driving Cruise vehicle.
Uber has been offering driverless cars in Phoenix on its platform since October through a partnership with Waymo. Waymo has about 700 vehicles in its fleet and is the only U.S. company operating an unmanned robot hub that collects fares, according to Reuters.
“Cruise seeks to leverage autonomous driving technology to create safer streets and redefine urban living,” Cruise CEO Mark Whitten said in a statement. “We are excited to partner with Uber to bring the benefits of safe, reliable, autonomous driving to more people, and usher in a new era of urban mobility.”
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said his company “can play a critical role in helping bring self-driving technology safely and reliably to consumers and cities around the world.”
Khosrowshahi referred to the partnership on the company’s recent earnings call when he said Uber is “in late-stage discussions with other global autonomous vehicle players to join our platform, and we will have more announcements in the coming weeks and months.”
“Uber can supply massive demand without requiring self-driving vehicle manufacturers to invest capital in customer acquisition or build marketplace technology that delivers reliability at the standards consumers expect.” He told analysts “All of this means that Uber will be an indispensable partner for AV operators of all types,” Uber said on August 6.
in Recent interviewKhosrowshahi expressed reservations about Tesla’s plan, saying it was “not clear” to him that the average Tesla owner would want “a complete stranger to ride in their car.”
Allowing Tesla owners to rent out their cars to taxi services would make it difficult to manage the “peaks and valleys” of supply and demand, he added.
Cruise is conducting supervised tests — where the fully self-driving car drives itself, but there is a human safety driver behind the wheel — in Phoenix, Dallas and Houston.
California authorities revoked Cruise’s permit to operate self-driving vehicles in October after one of its robotaxi vehicles struck a pedestrian after being struck by another car and dragged 20 feet.
Meanwhile, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration closed one of two investigations into the performance of Cruze vehicles after the company agreed to recall the cars.
The administration said in Files posted on its website It analyzed 7,632 reports of sudden braking and found 10 incidents that resulted in four people being injured. There were no incidents related to improper stopping.
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Cruise has agreed to recall 1,194 robotaxi vehicles over an unexpected brake issue, and said it has fixed the problem with a software update.
The company said it disagreed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s conclusions that the vehicles should be recalled, but agreed to do so to resolve the investigation.
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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is still investigating reports that Cruze vehicles have struck pedestrians on or entering roadways, including crosswalks.
Cruise’s CEO resigned last year, and GM later announced plans to cut spending on self-driving units.
Several analysts have issued research reports following the news about the Uber-Cruise partnership.
Bank of America Securities analyst Justin Post said the addition of Cruise “reinforces the notion” that fleet operators, or eventually individual self-driving vehicle owners, will want to leverage Uber’s demand aggregation to increase asset utilization.
Post, who has a buy rating and an $88 price target on Uber shares, said competition in the self-driving vehicle space is “good for the economics of a potential partnership with Uber in the long run,” and argued that Tesla and Amazon’s investment in self-driving vehicles “could be a net positive in the long run.”
RBC Capital has maintained its Outperform rating on General Motors after announcing the multi-year strategic partnership.
The news confirms RBC’s claim that Tesla will be one of the few robotaxi companies among others even in the United States and highlights the value of Uber’s app, the company said.
RBC said it assumes the vast majority of robotaxi revenue will come from “a variety of players,” not just Tesla. The news also underscores GM’s commitment to autonomy, “which we applaud,” the company said.
GM shares rarely get credit for Cruise, and RBC analysts wondered if that could change, especially with all the buzz surrounding Tesla’s unveiling of its robotaxi on Oct. 10.
KeyBanc analyst Justin Patterson said Uber’s partnership with Cruise brings another major self-driving car operator to the Uber platform and gives Uber users in new geographies access to self-driving cars.
Patterson said he sees this as a positive sign for Uber’s value to self-driving vehicle companies and the creation of a hybrid ride-hailing network, likely the first of many announcements Uber hinted at on its second-quarter earnings call.
The analyst stressed that investors are skeptical about Uber’s ability to partner with Tesla, but he pointed to previous partnerships as a sign that the two companies could work together.
He said he was keeping an “open mind” about Tesla’s October 10 event.
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