Robotics

Driverless fleets expand to 20 more cities after landmark safety report

Regulators cleared major robotaxi expansions after multi-year data showed autonomous fleets with substantially lower injury-crash rates than human drivers.

By James Park, Robotics Correspondent — PHOENIX

PHOENIX — Transport regulators approved robotaxi expansions into twenty additional cities this week, the largest simultaneous clearance to date, after an independent multi-year analysis found autonomous fleets recorded substantially fewer injury crashes per mile than matched human-driver baselines.

The report, which examined tens of millions of fully driverless miles, found the sharpest safety gains in the scenarios that dominate urban casualty statistics: intersections, left turns and pedestrian interactions after dark.

Driver unions renewed calls for transition support as ride-hail work shifts, and city officials pressed operators for guarantees on service coverage in lower-income neighbourhoods — conditions several of the new approvals formally attach.

Enable JavaScript to read the full story on Neural Daily News.