San Francisco has formally asked the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to rehear its August hearing to expand cruise and Waymo robotaxi permits.
The CPUC allowed both companies, Cruise and Waymo, to expand their commercial operations in the city around the clock. This was achieved amid protests from the city, which is still trying to prevent this from happening as they questioned the far-reaching impact of the expansions.
The permits place no restrictions on geographic area, operating hours or vehicle fleet size, which opponents say could lead to countless robotaxis roaming the streets unhindered. There is also no requirement for Cruise or Waymo to report incidents of malfunctioning robotaxis and their “bricking” (blocking rescue operations) in traffic.
San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu filed the motion on behalf of the city’s transportation and planning departments. Chiu had already asked the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) for a temporary suspension of the expansions shortly after the hearing, but received no response from the agency. The city’s motions, filed Monday, reiterate the request for a temporary suspension.
Chiu called on the CPUC to reconsider its decision, accusing the agency of using a flawed approval process and ignoring the public safety risks and potential environmental impacts of autonomous vehicles.
The primary mission of the CPUC is to promote the public interest by ensuring safe, reliable, and affordable utility services. As long as Cruise and Waymo’s services meet these requirements, the CPUC does not have the authority to restrict them. The agency voted to expand permits in August because it did not expect significant safety risks from the robotaxi services.
Both Cruise and Waymo vehicles have been involved in accidents, but to date no one has died as a result of these accidents and injuries have been minimal. Still, according to the CPUC hearing, a Cruise vehicle was involved in an accident with a fire truck that injured one passenger. The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) ordered Cruise to immediately reduce its vehicle fleet by 50% while it investigates these incidents.
Most of the other such incidents in the recent past have primarily involved cruise vehicles, which in the middle of a public streetn have failed. Public criticism of Cruise peaked in early September after a report from the San Francisco Fire Department accused Cruise of blocking an ambulance. There was a patient inside who later died. The accusation was denied by Cruise. The fire department later clarified that Cruise was not to blame.
Still, Cruise’s reputation was damaged, and the incident highlighted what could happen if a Cruise vehicle broke down in front of an ambulance, for example, on a one-way street with minimal space.
However, Cruise and Waymo shared some data during an August meeting with city stakeholders and the CPUC to address concerns before the agency’s vote. According to Cruise’s data, there were a total of 177 vehicle pickups from January 1 to July 18, 2023. Stopped cars are collected. The average time for this was 14 minutes. Waymo declared 58 pickups with an average resolution time of 10 minutes from January 1 to June 30, 2023.
However, city authorities said these incidents represent only a portion of the total number of unexpected stops. Between April 2022 and April 2023, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency collected a total of 261 incidents involving a Cruise vehicle and 85 involving a Waymo. These incidents included various types of driving behavior, including unexpected stops, reckless driving, pickup and drop-off issues, and accidents.
The city’s attorney’s office is calling on the CPUC not only to implement new reporting requirements for AV companies, but also for those reports to be released without redactions. The motion also calls on the CPUC to ensure that the expansion of autonomous driving is gradual and performance-based to avoid danger to the public.