LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — As Waymo rolls out 1,000 driverless cars in Clark County, FOX5 is looking into safety concerns after several thousand cars were recalled this summer.
According to Fox News, 3,871 cars were voluntarily recalled by the company after driving through construction zones on freeways in Phoenix and San Francisco.
The company says those defects were quickly fixed and months of testing in the Las Vegas Valley with human and autonomous drivers have prepared the vehicles.
FOX5 spoke with pedestrian safety expert, Erin Breen, who says the fleet of cars are likely to be safer than human drivers.
” Nevada was one of the first states in the United States that allowed autonomous vehicles to test in our state. Yes, we’ve had some issues, but if you notice, they immediately recall them and they rebuild the software to get around whatever glitch it was that no one anticipated. I wish we could do the same with humans,“ Breen said.
She claims the cars are often driving below the speed limit and with 360-degree surveillance technology, can have quicker instincts than humans.
Waymo claims their technology has 94% fewer-injury causing collisions compared to human drivers over the same distance driven.
There have also been concerns raised from rideshare drivers, as new robotaxis saturate the market.
Michelle Lewis said, ” think that at the end, it does kind of affect the rideshare drivers. I’m not sure how much is going to affect our income. That would be a problem, but everybody’s not going to be willing to get into a Waymo, so I’m not too worried about it.”
In a full statement to FOX5, Waymo officials said, “We’re looking forward to providing locals and visitors a safe, reliable, and magical way to get around. The city has a strong focus on improving road safety, and our technology has 94% fewer injury-causing collisions compared to human drivers over the same distance driven. We’ll continue to expand in the county, like the airport, as we welcome more public riders.”
Stick with FOX5 for continuing coverage on Waymo’s rollout.
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