San Francisco city supervisors call for pause on robotaxi expansion
SAN FRANCISCO - Less than a week after the state granted authorization to both Waymo and Cruise to expand their driverless car operations in San Francisco, the city is asking the state to pause that authorization.
"We have filled an administrative motion called a motion to stay asking the California Public Utilities Commission to pause the immediate implementation of unlimited expansion of automated vehicles in San Francisco," said San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu.
According to the motion filed with the CPUC on Wednesday, the city claims "San Francisco will suffer serious harms" from the expansion.
Supervisor Aaron Peskin says not only have there been countless reports of autonomous vehicles making wrong turns or stalling in the middle of the road, there's also been several reports of the vehicles interfering with first responders.
"Firetrucks that have had to reposition themselves. The day before yesterday a Cruise car that went into a construction site and got stuck in our concrete that we were pouring. A cruise car that got stuck in downed electrical over-wire," said Sup. Peskin.
The city says it wants the CPUC to pause its authorization allowing these cars to operate in the city with essentially no limits and instead replace that plan with a more incremental approach.
"This is an impressive technology but it's still rough around the edges and what we're saying is we want to take an incremental approach based on performance benchmarks and they expand as a continue to address the safety concerns," said Sup. Peskin.
When asked for comment, representatives from Waymo sent us this response saying, "We fully support the CPUC's carefully considered decision to authorize Waymo to charge fares for driverless rides. We will follow this development closely, and in the meantime, continue providing safe and accessible mobility to San Franciscans."
A spokesperson from Cruise sent us this statement saying..."The CPUC's decision was the result of a months-long process that saw public input and support from accessibility groups, labor unions, and community advocates--culminating in a six hour public comment period where the majority supported expanded AV access. It's unfortunate to see the city use public resources to bypass that decision and restrict a technology with an excellent safety record used by tens of thousands of SF residents."
City Attorney Chiu says he disagrees with that characterization.
"It's the job of city officials to keep our community safe and that is what we're focused on. We're actually not bypassing the process, in fact we're engaging with the process," said City Attorney Chiu.
City officials say they don't know when the CPUC will decide whether or not to approve their motion. They say if the CPUC does not approve their stay, the city will utilize other options to again try and pause the authorization.