Uncovered records reveal the hidden costs of Waymo robotaxis on San Francisco streets

Self-driving cars are creating new problems for city transit systems. Officials are still figuring out how to adapt.

[Photos: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images; Smith; Collection/Gado/Getty Images; Adobe Stock]

In the past few years, while navigating the streets of San Francisco, bus and trolley operators have documented a growing presence on the city’s streets: Waymo robotaxis, often devoid of any front-seat human driver, causing problems. Sometimes, they report the cars for signs of an illegal maneuver, like when in September, a driver operating the city’s 45 electric bus noticed a Waymo trying to pass on double solid yellow lines at Stockton and Columbus, an intersection along its route. Or for a near miss—like, when, last December, a Waymo was caught by a city light rail train’s video camera making a dangerous left turn at “high speed.” Very often, transit operators flag a stalled robotaxi, or several, blocking a public........

© Fast Company