It Turns Out Traffic Cones Can Stop Some Self-Driving Cars

Earlier this month, San Francisco gave the go-ahead to robotaxis operated by Waymo and Cruise to operate around the clock. While the companies behind self-driving vehicles (including Waymo’s parent company Alphabet) are enthusiastic about the technology, not everyone shares that feeling — and some of them may have figured out a bit limitation on robotaxi tech. Given that reports of self-driving cars causing traffic jams and getting stuck in concrete circulated after San Francisco gave the okay for round-the-clock robotaxi operations, it isn’t hard to see where the activists are coming from. It’s worth pointing out, too, that Cruise recently agreed to halve its total number of self-driving cars in San Francisco after one of its vehicles was involved in an accident. Speaking more broadly, the conflict over self-driving vehicles also gets at a larger question: who benefits most from this technology?