As Waymo and its robotaxi rivals race to add cities and rides, the messier side of that expansion is surfacing. In Dallas, a pedestrian was struck by two vehicles, one a Waymo car; nationally, reporting shows robotaxi operators are hitting unexpected snags — construction zones, emergency scenes — faster than they can patch them. A comparison of two major U.S. operators found stark safety gaps, with one logging 14 crashes in 800,000 miles despite a human safety driver up front. Meanwhile, a federal judge in San Francisco refused to let Waymo keep running its cars overnight while it appeals a regulatory ban, underscoring how far ahead of oversight the technology is moving.
Hertz-backed autonomous vehicle outfit Oro Mobility says it has now logged more than 6 million testing miles as its robotaxi partnership with Uber edges toward commercial launch. The milestone comes as investor Gary Black makes the case that Uber — not Tesla or Waymo — is best positioned to bring robotaxis to a mass market, a bullish read that dovetails with Oro's progress.