SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Lyft and Uber drivers protested self-driving Waymo taxis in San Francisco on Friday, urging state regulators to tighten oversight of self-driving cars amid recent incidents of them killing pets and blocking traffic.
About two dozen drivers and supporters spoke or held signs outside California Public Utilities Commission offices calling for safer streets and greater accountability. The commission meets on Friday to consider further regulation of autonomous vehicles.
The steady stream of Waymo cars driving past the protest is evidence that white cars are increasingly common in San Francisco.
“I’m not personally against technology; I’m against unfair treatment,” said Uber and Lyft driver Joseph Augusto. “We have these people, these companies, these self-driving car companies, driving around the city, but they don’t seem to be held to the same standards as us drivers.”
The California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates Uber and Lyft, is refining and expanding policies on self-driving robotaxis as the industry evolves. The California Gig Workers Alliance says the vehicles should be removed from the streets until safety concerns are resolved.
The state agency said it had no comment on the protests.
A spokesman for Waymo, a subsidiary of Google parent company Alphabet, said Waymo’s “mission is to be the world’s most trustworthy driver, making travel safer, more convenient and more sustainable for passengers.”
A beleaguered Waymos clogged the streets of San Francisco during a massive outage days before Christmas, forcing the company to suspend service and raising questions about the cars’ ability to adapt to real-world driving conditions.
In September, a Waymo made an illegal U-turn in front of a sign telling drivers not to do so, but San Bruno police were unable to issue a ticket because there was no human driver. In October, a Waymo crushed and killed a neighbor’s popular cat named Kit Kat.
Driver Augusto said that on December 20, when the lights went out in San Francisco, he saw Waymos stopped at an intersection with people rushing around them.
“There are a lot of Waymos around. Just randomly all over the city and without any plan,” he said.