There is no doubt that technology and the world of motoring became a duo that was “doomed to share a bed”, but the large-scale deployment of artificial intelligence and robotics has been so rapid that it has led us to live a reality that a few years ago would have seemed authentic science fiction, The birth of the robotaxis.
San Francisco became one of the first cities to allow the use of robotaxis, a decision that certainly marked a milestone in the history of the city and its state, California, and that shows that it is one of the most open to technology and progress. We could say that this is always a success, since in the end it contributes to the progress of society and brings us closer and closer to that future that we have seen so many times in science fiction movies and series.
However, in the case of San Francisco, the use of robotaxis has given rise to numerous incidents that are causing a certain amount of chaos, and which show that we are not yet ready to live with robotaxis. According to what they tell us from Wired, the California Public Utilities Commission has received several complaints in which reference is made numerous unnecessary 911 calls, all made by the Cruise robotaxis servicewhich is the one that operates in San Francisco, and also in Los Angeles.
We might think that everything is fine, and that it’s great that this service is able to call 911 by itself in an emergency, but the problem is that those calls are unnecessary, and therefore should not occur. According to the source of the news, in most cases the calls are made because the passenger decides to take a nap during his tripand when the robotaxi does not respond, it decides to call emergencies.
San Francisco authorities describe this problem as something chaotic that represents a waste of time and resourcesand have called for the adoption and use of this robotaxis service to be reduced if the bug that causes those unnecessary 911 calls is not corrected.
On the other hand, this too tells us an interesting storythat the users of these robotaxis are beginning to behave in a completely natural way and that they totally trust this service, so much so that they are able to take a nap as normally as they would on a bus, train or taxi driven by humans.
