Expecting driverless taxis to respect bike lanes “too high a bar” – because customers want to be dropped off in them, autonomous vehicle firm Waymo tells cyclists
road.cc
Waymo, the autonomous driving tech firm whose so-called ‘robo-taxis’ are now roaming the streets of London, has told cycling campaigners that expecting their driverless cars to respect cycle lanes is “too high a bar” – because their customers want to be dropped off in them.According to the Highway Code, motorists “must not drive or park ... Read more
  • jet@hackertalks.comEnglish
    5·
    15 hours ago

    Cities that want to keep cars out of bike lanes should keep all cars out of them, autonomous or not, by ticketing them. But they don’t, so taxis and delivery drivers stop in them. That’s traffic enforcement’s fault.

    Given that human drivers stop in bike lanes, Waymo then has a tradeoff:

    1) Be the only ones to follow the letter of the law, break a lot of people’s expectations, and catch backlash for disrupting traffic.

    2) Follow the most common expectation, even if wrong, and incrementally add to the problem.

    IMO, cyclists shouldn’t lobby Waymo directly, but should lobby cities to actually enforce the rules on everyone. Then Waymo would fall in line naturally. And if they’re inclined to take direct action against Waymo’s they should also act against Uber and DoorDash drivers who are a far bigger problem by volume (and wait time for deliveries).