October 28, 2024

Uy Pham

12th Grade

Fountain Valley High School

Introduction

What would you do if a taxi came to pick you up, but there was no driver inside to transport you? No driver doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to have a ride — instead, you may be riding in a self-driving robotaxi. This soon may be the reality for the world of ridesharing with the latest expansion of self-driving robotaxis in cities across the United States. Shocked commuters have been startled by the sight of their taxi arriving with no driver or even staring at the moving car next to them, realizing that there’s no driver to be seen. This has slowly started to become the new reality for those living in cities such as Los Angeles, California; San Francisco, California; Phoenix, Arizona; and Austin, Texas. 

Previously, companies such as Uber and Lyft had dominated their industry as two of the most prominent ridesharing apps. The apps offered a service where a user could simply open their mobile app, request a ride and venture to their intended destination — all without needing to use their own car or transport themselves. With the emergence of mobile apps, ride sharing apps became a convenient way to arrange transportation for a user’s needs without having to call for a cab or search through the streets to hail one down. Over time, developments were made to the apps for user safety, such as more detailed information about drivers, programs for minors to ride alone and increased safety measures for passenger safety.

Currently, some of those concerns will be alleviated by the emergence of self-driving robotaxis, which completely eliminates the need for another driver to operate a vehicle and pick-up a passenger. However, how are these cars able to navigate their passengers through the dynamic, busy environments of these cities’ streets by both adhering to traffic laws and adapting to constantly evolving circumstances on the road?

Self-Driving Technology

According to the Society of Automotive Engineers, there are six tiers to self-driving technology. The first tier consists of a car fully operated by a human driver, while later tiers include ranges of technology, such as the self-driving features on cars with humans still required to be within  proximity and control. The final tier represents what some of these self-driving robotaxis have become — fully automated cars with no human in the driver seat. 

Together, self-driving technology is composed of these five key steps: computer vision, sensory vision, localization, path planning and control. The basis for most self-driving technology centers around the use of cameras and sensors. Depending on the company, such sensor technology can be a combination of laser beams, radars, and high-powered cameras. The technology acts as the vision of the car, just like humans identifying their surroundings when driving through streets and highways. Based on the surroundings and sensors’ detection, points are plotted to be transmitted as information for the acceleration, braking and steering functions of the car. This mimics the actions of humans scanning their surroundings to see what actions they should take to move their car to a certain destination, including speed adjustments and navigating through other cars, traffic lights and road signage.

Just like human drivers, the cars have to take into account its location, proximity to other cars and lane signs and road conditions. Once the car understands its surroundings, it can determine its future steps and operate the car accordingly through various waypoints and path mapping. Traffic laws and codes to yield or avoid objects, including predictive instincts, which can be coded into the algorithms for the software. Other situations that have to be accounted for include closed-roads, pedestrians and other rapidly evolving, unexpected circumstances that even human rivers would need to be prepared to react to. Even the comfortability of the ride determines acceleration patterns of the computer to operate the vehicle, especially in highly dense areas and urban traffic areas. However, just like human drivers, one cannot always drive in a straight line, including during situations for sharp turns. Therefore, technology has to learn to adapt to these sharp turn environments to maintain all conditions previously stated, including traffic laws and realistic operational constraints to still make that sharp turn. 

Concerns and Solutions

For some, even the lack of a human driver causes a concern that an automated self-driving car lacks the emotional and rational capabilities of humans to assess dynamic situations and react accordingly. Some may argue that self-driving cars offer a safer alternative to human drivers, as technology cannot be distracted and less-functional compared to the behaviors of a human. While technology is not human, there are some ways the industry is taking to address some of the major concerns and potential problems of relying on self-driving, automated technology.

With the emergence of these self-driving robotaxis, there have been reported incidents of mishaps, ranging from collisions, freezing in the middle of complicated and crowded driving situations, causing traffic collisions and becoming stuck in wet concrete. However, according to the National High Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there have been advances in self-driving technology in recent years, with goals of expanding adaptive cruise control, lane keeping, and traffic jam assist in the years of 2016-2025. With stringent testing, studies and constant updates to software, including reports from both public and private institutions, self-driving technology is constantly being analyzed and improved upon. For example, with concerns about self-driving technology being able to make sharp turns, improvements can be made based on testing with these sensors and camera systems. Advanced and dynamic road conditions can be tough for both human and automated drivers, and with careful analysis, there may be a promising future for self-driving technology to develop such adaptation capabilities just like human drivers gain from experience on the road. Computers still make mistakes, like humans, and have glitches to affect their functionality, but there are cautious steps being taken by both the government and private sector to manage the roll-out of robotaxis in cities across the world. There is still a long way to go before computers can be fully trusted with the same trust as human drivers operating automobiles. 

Current State of Self-Driving Robotaxis

The expansion of self-driving robotaxis aims to offer new, accessible alternatives to the world of transportation. For example, for those unable to drive, self-driving robo taxis offer an easy alternative to step into a car and be transported. Some businesses even suggest not having to hire a driver may help decrease cost of operations, as employees can focus on other tasks compared to driving cars to destinations. There’s also reported possibilities for a reduction in traffic congestion and energy savings (due to smoother and efficient driving style), according to reports from the University of Michigan and NHTSA. The NHTSA even estimates that over a billion dollars in car crash damages could be reduced with automated technology. Furthermore, crash data analyzed by the University of Central Florida found that self-driving vehicles had lower accident rates in work zones and traffic events due to its built-in tendencies to slow down.

To request a ride, passengers utilize mobile apps to schedule a pick-up and destination. Furthermore, the rise of robotaxis began in San Francisco, which is referred to as the unofficial birthplace of the robotaxi revolution. There have been slow rollouts in various cities to implement self-driving robotaxis into the transportation sector of those cities. With each new implementation, public and legislative concern is brought over the safety of autonomous vehicles (with incidents reported), but local leaders constantly search for ways to regulate and reform the progress of self-driving technology. 

Constantly, updates are driving the autonomous self-driving robotaxi industry. Two prominent self-driving robotaxi companies, including Waymo (subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet) and Cruise (majority owner General Motors), currently look to expand their offerings of robotaxis in cities worldwide and expand their car fleet. Recently, Waymo has announced a partnership with Uber to expand their services to Austin, Texas, and Atlanta, Georgia, along with expanding destinations with the regions of San Francisco and Los Angeles. Waymo currently has around 700 operational robotaxis, 300 of which are in San Francisco. For Cruise, their services are currently based in Dallas, Houston, and Phoenix, but is currently returning to autonomous driving in stages to better analyze their technology and safety protocols after a pause. Additionally, with robotaxi ventures expanding in China and other places worldwide, robotaxis seem to be proving themselves as contenders for a new form of rideshare and transportation throughout our future lives.