Robotaxi returns
In theory. the greatest minds in our time are computer automating everything in life to make us more comfortable, faster and lazier, but waking up in a Waymo comes as a shock. Ditto Kasendar remembers soft music drifting from the robotaxi’s speakers as he rode home late at night from a friend’s birthday party last year. The next moment, Los Angeles firefighters were opening the door and asking if he was OK. His 6-minute trip had ended nearly an hour before. A remote Waymo assistant, dialing in through the car’s speakers, repeatedly tried to rouse him and finally called 911 when he wouldn’t stir. As companies like Alphabet Inc. and Tesla Inc. bring self-driving taxis to more cities, the messier aspects of serving unpredictable humans are becoming harder to ignore.
So many robotaxi customers have nodded off in the midst of a ride that Austin police and firefighters even have a name for the incidents: “sleepers.” The Texas capital recorded 99 such calls in Waymo’s first nine months of service there, said Austin-Travis County Emergency Services. If tired or wasted passengers fall asleep in a traditional taxi or rideshare, the driver can shout or shake them awake. Not so in a robotaxi. Remote assistants monitoring the cars try talking through the speakers and checking on passengers with interior cameras. But if they get no response, company protocols often require them to call 911. And first responders have to assume the worst. Only about 3% of such calls require transporting the passenger to a hospital, police said. But the incidents tie up personnel who might be needed elsewhere.
In San Francisco, more than 60 Waymos had to be moved out of the way after a widespread blackout in December left the cars paralyzed on city streets, in some cases blocking first responders. Last week, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration sent autonomous driving companies a letter saying some cars have been driving through emergency scenes, ignoring flares and traffic cones and obstructing ambulances. San Francisco experienced 250 such incidents in 2025.
The absence of a driver can lull passengers into thinking they can do whatever they want, unobserved. But the cars have internal cameras. Waymo’s remote team of support staff, for example, can access that footage to conduct cleanliness checks or if they detect unusual activity or rule violations. David Margines, director of product management at Waymo, said the vehicles can offer a safer solution in emergencies than a traditional taxi or rideshare, whose driver may not know how to respond. For his part, Ditto Kasendar said the response to his accidental nap made him even more likely to use Waymo, which he rides about four or five times a week. It didn’t hurt that the experience ultimately did not cost him more than the original $8 fare, even with the added time. “It feels safer in a way,” Ditto said. “With humans you don’t know what’s going to happen, but with Waymo you do know.”
Taxi-ing humor
Why would Mark Zuckerberg be a very good taxi driver?
You get in the car and he already knows your name and where you live.
Taxi driver: “What I like most about my job is the independence. I’m my own boss. No one tells me what to do, I make my own decisions.”
Me: “Take the next left.”
A female nudist calls for a taxi. The taxi stops and the driver scans her from head to toe, with big bold eyes.
At this the nudist erupts: Haven’t you seen a naked girl before?
Driver: It’s not about that, I’m just wondering where have the money to pay me.
A woman hailed a New York taxi cab…She gets into the cab and tells the driver the destination. In the cab with her was a police officer who just finished his shift. 3 blocks away from her destination the woman realized that she left her wallet at home. At the next stop light she decides to make a run for it. The taxi driver, absolutely livid, yells at the officer to go catch her. The officer obliges and chases after her.
The officer catches up to the woman after 5 min of running. The woman, exhausted, decides to give up and give herself in. “Okay I give up officer, I’ll go to the station with you” she says. “What are you talking about?” says the officer, “I don’t have any money for the fare either.”
July 22nd Birthdays
1995 – Jazzy Sinclair, 1999 – Madison Pettis, 1993 – Selena Gomez, 1979 – A J Cook
1946 – Danny Glover, 1996 – Ezekiel Elliott , 1956 – William Dafoe, 1965 – David Spade