They come in droves: How robotaxis are hogging EV chargers in one corner of Southern California
This is read by an automated voice.Please report any issues or inconsistencies here.
See more from the L.A.Times in Google Search.
Set us as preferred San Diego resident José Manjarrés has a robot problem in his neighborhood.When he goes to charge his Ford Mustang Mach-E, he increasingly finds the charging stations are already occupied by robotaxis.Last month, he had to wait an hour for his turn as driverless Waymos filled up.
“It becomes really annoying when you see three Waymos in a charging station with four spots,” said Manjarrés.“It creates some kind of antagonistic posture against the product.”Other San Diego residents have complained about sharing the city’s limited charging infrastructure with a new Waymo fleet that just launched in the region.
Local politicians are calling for more regulation of the automated vehicles.Welcome to the quiet beginning of the robot wars.
Business As the robotaxi race heats up across the country, key players including Waymo, Zoox and Tesla claim their technology is safer than human drivers.As AI-enabled bots enter everyday life, they are creating a brand new set of etiquette and legal conundrums.
Do you need to be polite to chatbots? Do we have to make way on the sidewalk for food delivery bots? If a driverless car breaks the law, who is responsible?California — home of many of the companies behind the bots as well as the locations where they are being tested — is where these new rules are being worked out.Waymo officially launched in San Diego in September, but its vehicles started showing up months earlier as they were testing, locals say.San Diego resident Finn Sadler, 24, said long lines formed in some places as Waymos took up limited charging stations.
“They come in droves,” he said.Technology & the Internet Police officers in San Bruno observed a Waymo car making an illegal U-turn.
The incident highlights a gray area in law enforcement’s ability to cite robot cars when they viola...