Robotaxis Are Ending Up With Disgusting Interiors And Sleeping People Because There Was Always More To A Taxi Than Just A Driver

Robotaxis like those being operated by companies like Waymo, Zoox, and Tesla are pretty remarkable machines, when you think about it. While they’re far from perfect, these automated vehicles do perform the fundamentals of the task of driving with a competency that was nearly impossible to imagine even a single decade ago. And yet, in many situations, they still suck. Sometimes dramatically. But even leaving the actual process of driving aside, there are still other aspects where automated vehicles are struggling, and these situations and conditions are a reminder that a taxi has never been just about a vehicle that takes you from one place to another. There are more demands on the job that a human taxi driver performs, and they’re not always obvious.

A recent Bloomberg article highlights some of these issues, which include everything from people leaving messes in cars to riders leaving without closing doors (requiring companies to, hilariously, hire DoorDash drivers to come and close the damn doors) to the perhaps not-so-surprising issue of rousing sleeping passengers from cars.

The Bloomberg article notes how common the sleeping passenger situation is by mentioning that Austin police and firefighters have a nickname for it:

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 Roger Patterson, a commander with Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services.

I’m not sure calling sleeping people “sleepers” really even qualifies as a clever nickname, though. That just feels like the first thing you’d think to call them?

All of these issues stem, of course, from the fact that the human being who once captained a cab has been replaced by a bunch of printed circuit boards and a lot of software that in no way inhibits a human passenger from behaving in ways that are, perhaps, less than fully socially acceptable.

The truth is that, like a scary narcissistic dad, we all behave quite differently in the presence of other people than we do when we are alone, or when we are in what we consider to be a private space as opposed to a public space. A rideshare car like a Waymo is in a strange, blurry space when it comes to its status as public or private. If you’re alone in a Waymo or Tesla Cybercab or Zoox, it’s not that different than if you are alone in a strange, small room somewhere, only in these cases the room isn’t yours, it’s moving through a city on public roads, and it has windows all over it.

The thing is, of course, you’re not really alone. In all of these robotaxis, you’re being monitored remotely via cameras and microphones. That’s how, if you fall asleep in a Waymo after your ride, remote assistants can attempt to wake your ass up by, I suppose, yelling at you, but if this fails to rouse you, then those remote assistants have to treat every incident of a non-responsive passenger as a medical emergency, because what the hell else can they do?

A human cab driver, of course, would be able to wake you and get you out of the car, and could (likely) determine if you needed actual medical help. Of course, humans are unpredictable, so it’s also possible an unscrupulous cabbie could just drag you out of the car and leave you by a dumpster as you struggle to breathe or whatever, so perhaps there is some advantage to a more regimented system like what automated taxi companies use.

There’s a lot more that a human presence does in a cab, too. Most people are a lot less likely to leave messes in a taxi if there’s a driver present, though wildcard messy events like vomiting can still happen, of course. Though, with a human driver, there’s a better chance you could scream PULL OVER PULL OVER I’M GONNA PUKE OH GOD I’M GONNA PUKE NO NO NO WHY HUNNGHHHULLGHHNGGH and hopefully they’d make it to the side of the road in time so you can open the door and yop, lavishly.

If you do make a mess in a robotaxi, you’ll get charged for it. Here’s Tesla’s Cybercab mess rules/charges, for example:

Why was I charged a cleaning fee?

We prioritize maintaining a clean and comfortable environment for all riders and promoting responsible rider behavior. To address incidents where vehicles require additional cleaning after a trip, we will assess the type and severity of the mess and apply the appropriate fee:

• $50: Charged for moderate messes, such as food spills, significant dirt and minor stains

• $150: Charged for severe messes, such as biowaste or smoking in the vehicle

Biowaste. Eww.

Though, I suppose it’s good to know how much it’d cost you to take a healthy, loamy dump in a Cybercab in case you wanted to work that into your budget or save up for an anniversary or birthday gift.

All of these issues stem from, of course, the fact that a taxi is really not just a vehicle. The human in the taxi does more than just drive the cab, even if those other tasks performed aren’t always obvious. Remember the incident where a couple of creepy dudes blocked a Waymo and harassed the women inside?

????Warning to women in SF ????

I love Waymo but this was scary ????

2 men stopped in front of my car and demanded that I give my number.

It left me stuck as the car was stalled in the street.

Thankfully, it only lasted a few minutes…

Ladies please be aware of this pic.twitter.com/6VEqb1WoJb

— Amina (@Amina_io) September 30, 2024

That was pretty messed up, and likely would not have happened if there was a human being driving that taxi.

None of what is happening here is a technological problem. It’s a human problem, and in that sense is a sort of mirror reflecting the bigger issues of recent technological changes and developments, especially regarding AI. All manner of technological advancements are being made, but there seems to be very little thought given to the human repercussions of these technological changes, which often have cultural impacts not planned or even considered by those pushing these new technologies.

There’s no question these self-driving cars are impressive. But they’re also not the complete solution to this problem, because like anything that involves human beings, there’s a lot of subtleties and gray areas and unpredictable aspects to it. We’re not cargo that can be neatly shipped around in a robot. We’re messy, stupid, emotional, beautiful, drippy beings, full of fluids and feelings and bad ideas and remarkable abilities to sleep anywhere. We can engineer humans out of a system, but if that system is still designed to serve humans (not in the Twilight Zone way, just the normal way), then it’s very likely there will still be a need for actual humans in the loop.

I’m sure there are cultures, ones with a more collective focus, that can likely behave like mature adults in automated taxis and refrain from filling the cars full of trash and soaking the carpets in urine and at least trying to stay awake. But I’m not so sure that’s us.