The Good, Bad and Annoying as Autonomous Vehicle Services Expand

June 10, 2024

KQED Forum newspagePATH research engineer Steven Shladover spoke on KQED Forum about The Good, Bad and Annoying as Autonomous Vehicle Services Expand: https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101905963/the-good-bad-and-annoying-as-autonomous-vehicle-services-expand

It’s been almost a year since robotaxi companies Waymo and Cruise expanded their operations to offer fully driverless ride services in San Francisco. Testing human-free vehicles in urban environments has proven challenging, with incidents ranging from gaffs like a driverless car stumped by parade traffic to deep safety concerns that led GM to suspend Cruise’s autonomous operations last fall. After a wave of driverless hype, and criticism – where does the industry stand today? Forum speaks with a research engineer who has been studying the promise of autonomous vehicles for half a century, and an investigative reporter tracking the data and the blindspots of these robots on our roads.