Waymo runs into safety concerns and competition as it expands in the US

"The sidewalk outside Majed Zeidan's grocery store in San Francisco's Mission District has stayed filled with flowers, candles, memorials and pictures since his cat was crushed under a Waymo in late October. A month later, a Waymo reportedly crushed a dog. Amid the pictures of the cat, a visitor had placed a poster that said, save the cat, kill the car. That's when Zeidan knew Kit Kat, his bodega cat, had become the face of the simmering discontent over San Francisco's growing number of self-driving cars."

"Two years since it got approved to ply its driverless cars, Waymo, owned by Google parent company Alphabet, has become a part of San Francisco's landscape. Residents became increasingly comfortable riding one, costumed Halloween parade goers clambered on its rooftops and danced, and pedestrians occasionally banged its bonnet to get it to give way to them. In November, Waymo got approvals for its biggest expansions so far to ply on the Bay Area's freeways and pick up passengers from San Jose International Airport."

"But the expansion comes with heightened safety concerns and new competition. Amazon's Zoox driverless vehicle has begun running in the Mission, too. And Zeidan says the Kit Kat incident opened pent-up resentment over the melding of the new entrants into the city's hilly, colourful streets. Around Kit Kat's memorials is a poster with a barcode to sign a petition, moved by Jackie Fielder, the area's representative to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors,"

Waymo expanded driverless operations across San Francisco and obtained approvals to run on Bay Area freeways and serve San Jose International Airport. The company began or planned services in Dallas, Houston, Orlando, Miami and Washington, DC. Two recent incidents involving a bodega cat and a dog intensified local safety concerns and increased public resentment. Amazon's Zoox has started running autonomous vehicles in the Mission. Community activists and a local supervisor pushed for city-level oversight and a petition called for municipal authority over autonomous vehicle regulation rather than sole state control.

Read at www.aljazeera.com