Overview
- Reporters say driverless taxi services from Waymo, Tesla and Zoox are expanding across U.S. cities and reporters have documented a broad pattern of problematic rider behavior.
- Passengers are reportedly leaving behind spilled drinks, food scraps and vomit, treating robotaxis like disposable space with no on-board human to enforce norms.
- Austin first responders logged so many calls about dozing riders during Waymo’s early months in the city that they created a new service category labeled “sleepers.”
- There are isolated operational anecdotes of safety and service lapses, including vehicles leaving quickly after drop-off and a separate April arrest of a Tesla driver found passed out while using self-driving mode.
- Cities and emergency services say the incidents are adding to their workload and raising questions about who pays for cleanup, oversight and any changes to rules as fleets continue to grow.