London's taxi drivers have clashed with driverless car firm Waymo after its vehicles were caught hogging electric charging bays meant exclusively for black cabs. Cab groups report numerous instances of Waymo's electric cars plugging in at dedicated e-taxi points, forcing Transport for London to step in. Representatives from the industry say frustrated taxi drivers have taken matters into their own hands by cancelling the robocars' charging sessions.
"Consumers don't have all the information at once," Griffin Li, the app's 19-year-old creator, told SFGATE. "They have to sort of make suboptimal decisions and spend more money. And this is just a way to help."
The company announced today that it will start offering robotaxi rides to a select group of passengers traveling to and from the San Francisco International Airport, a major step in Waymo's effort to increase its footprint in the Bay Area. The company plans on gradually growing the number of riders until anyone who wants to can hail a Waymo at the airport, which the company says should happen "in the coming months."
Waymo will start offering its robotaxi service in Miami to the public Thursday, the first of around a dozen cities where the Alphabet Inc. company plans to launch this year. Waymo will gradually invite riders in Miami from a nearly 10,000-person waiting list, it said in a blog post on Thursday. The service will initially be available across a 60-square-mile zone spanning neighborhoods including the Design District, Wynwood, Brickell and Coral Gables, it added.
