Robotaxis Wreak Havoc For Emergency Responders In San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco’s robotaxis may offer speed and convenience to some, but they offer neither to the city’s frustrated first responders, according to recent reports.

Since the driverless Cruise of General Motors and Waymo of Alphabet were cleared in August to operate similarly to ride-hail vehicles, the cars have disrupted fires, construction, medical emergencies and even crime scenes, CNBC recently reported.

“It’s like playing Russian roulette,” Fire Chief Jeanine Nicholson told the outlet. “It’s impacting public safety and that’s what we need to fix.”

The department created a form for incidents involving driverless vehicles in June, according to The New York Times. As of Oct. 15, the form had been used to record 87 incidents, the Times reported, noting that over 600 incidents with self-driving vehicles were documented in the city from June 2022 to June 2023.

One such case was March 19, when a firefighter responding to a medical emergency was delayed seven minutes because a Waymo blocked his ambulance’s path, according to the Times, which reported that after the firefighter was told someone would remove the vehicle, another Waymo arrived to further obstruct the area.

Waymo told the Times it had no evidence of the March incident and that it has rolled out an update so first responders can take control of its cars in seconds.

San Francisco has assigned at least one employee to work on policies for driverless cars, according to the Times.

Cruise recently left the city's streets. California’s DMV suspended its driverless testing permits after one of the robotaxis in October dragged a crash victim about 20 feet and pinned the person under a tire.

The company’s CEO, Kyle Vogt, resigned in recent days, after all 950 vehicles were recalled for a software update in the wake of the San Francisco victim-dragging incident.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.