Hannah Metzger
It’s been a little over a month since Waymo officially launched in Denver, and the robot rideshare service has been front and center in several driving mishaps.
Over the last month, a handful of photos and videos have shown Waymo cars wandering into farmers’ markets and entering construction zones, and one was involved in a collision. But even when a Waymo is considered at fault for accidents or traffic infractions, the Denver Police Department can’t ticket the driverless cars or the company operating them.
Colorado law doesn’t have a mechanism to cite driverless cars for moving violations, leaving Denver police only allowed to issue parking violations to Waymos, according to the Denver Department of Transportation & Infrastructure. State lawmakers plan to introduce legislation in 2027 to give local police the laws they need to enforce traffic rules on driverless cars, but most Westword commenters are already peeved.
What if a Waymo vehicle caused an accident and the passenger of the Waymo gets injured or the passenger of the other vehicle is injured and their vehicle is damaged?
— Darrell Sadler
Next time you get pulled over, just get in the passenger seat and say the vehicle is Autonomous
—James Johnson
Like ban them.Or just do what California has just done Cite them for moving violation in regarding stalling in the street and impeading Emergency Vehicles. Acess to Manual override systems. Collision report systems. And more.
— Maureen Price
Autonomous cars are the way of the future. People were stubborn going from horse to automobile, but they got over it just like people will line up to by autonomously vehicles in the near future
— Trevor Zarnowski
If there’s no accountability why not program them to violate every traffic law?
— Walt Sobchak
Is it really Waymo’s fault, or did humans not do a good enough job of signage, etc? I feel safer around Waymo’s than I do around 80% of the driving public.
— Rene Frauenknecht
If there is no accountability… they can afford to pay for new windows and paint jobs ❤
— Brett Hensinger
Why are we letting them beta test technology on our roads!
— Brian Abare
What do you think? Should Waymo be allowed to roam Denver streets without more forms of accountability, or is it too late to pump the brakes? Send your thoughts to [email protected].
Source: www.westword.com
