In a recent incident in San Francisco, the increasing presence of self-driving taxis has taken a toll on city services. Adam Wood, a firefighter, responded to a 911 call in the Mission neighborhood and loaded a patient into an ambulance. However, their path was blocked by a driverless vehicle operated by Waymo, an autonomous car company owned by Alphabet, Google's parent company. With no human driver to instruct, Wood had to communicate through a device in the car to a remote operator, who assured him that someone would come to move the vehicle. However, instead of resolving the situation, another Waymo car arrived and blocked the other side of the street, further delaying the ambulance's departure. Eventually, after being forced to back up, the ambulance was able to leave, but the patient's emergency response time was delayed by seven minutes.

This incident is just one example of how self-driving taxis are posing challenges for city services in San Francisco and Austin, Texas. Passengers in these cities can hail autonomous vehicles, but this has led to slower emergency response times, increased accidents, congestion, and added workload for local officials. According to San Francisco's Municipal Transportation Agency, over 600 self-driving vehicle incidents were documented from June 2022 to June 2023. In response to one incident where a Cruise driverless car ran over and dragged a pedestrian, California regulators ordered the company to suspend its service. Following this, Kyle Vogt, Cruise's CEO, resigned. Austin also reported 52 autonomous car incidents between July 8 and October 24, including a crash by a prototype robotaxi into a small electrical building.

To handle the fallout from these incidents, San Francisco has assigned a city employee to work on autonomous car policies and requested two transportation agencies to compile a database of incidents. Austin has also formed an internal task force to log driverless vehicle incidents. Matthew McElearney, a training captain at the Austin Fire Department, expressed the challenges of managing this additional responsibility alongside regular duties.

The experiences of San Francisco and Austin provide a preview of what other cities can expect as self-driving cars continue to be developed and tested. While trials have been conducted in numerous U.S. cities over the years, the newer phase involves human drivers no longer staying in the cars during rides. Waymo and Cruise have started offering fully driverless taxi services in some cities. However, Cruise has suspended its operations, while Waymo plans to expand its services to Los Angeles and Austin. Zoox also intends to introduce robotaxis in San Francisco and Las Vegas.

As these autonomous vehicles are deployed in various cities, other cities, such as Nashville and Seattle, are preparing for their arrival. The Nashville Fire Department is creating annual training for firefighters about the cars, while the Seattle Fire Department has included safety issues with driverless cars in the responsibilities of an employee during each shift.

While some cities have had smoother experiences with robotaxis, San Francisco has faced significant challenges. Google began testing driverless vehicles in the city in 2009, and Cruise started testing its vehicles in 2015. Waymo and Cruise had hundreds of driverless vehicles operating in San Francisco, making their presence a common sight for residents. In response to the impact of self-driving cars, the city's Municipal Transportation Agency enlisted Julia Friedlander, a transportation policy veteran, to understand the consequences for San Francisco.

Waymo, Cruise, and Zoox, among others, claim to have worked closely with officials in many cities and continue to improve their vehicles to minimize the effects on local services. Waymo specifically denied any evidence of their vehicles blocking an ambulance during the incident on March 19 in San Francisco. However, as self-driving cars become more prevalent, cities will need to address the challenges they pose to ensure the safety and efficiency of their services.