{"id":12553,"date":"2025-07-11T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/uncategorized\/are-autonomous-vehicles-ready-to-take-over-the-roads\/"},"modified":"2025-07-15T09:49:35","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T07:49:35","slug":"are-autonomous-vehicles-ready-to-take-over-the-roads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/ai-news-2\/are-autonomous-vehicles-ready-to-take-over-the-roads\/","title":{"rendered":"\ud83d\udd12 Are autonomous vehicles ready to take over the roads?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A decade ago, we only talked about these self-driving cars as a futuristic sight that we could watch on sci-fi films and series, or eventually test under controlled conditions. Today \u2014 at least in some areas of the United States \u2014 we can find them on the roads. Two companies are taking the lead on the American highways: Aurora, which is developing self-driving trucks, and Waymo, which offers robotaxis. However, both companies are facing some resistance.<\/p>

Aurora: change of path, same goal<\/strong><\/h4>

Aurora announced some changes in the tests of pilotless trucks between Dallas and Houston. The safety observer, who previously sat at the back of the cab, has been moved to the front seat.\u00a0<\/p>

\"\"
View from an Aurora truck during a drive | Source: aurora.tech<\/figcaption><\/figure>

However, the company emphasized that this measure is purely formal, ensuring that the Aurora system had to comply with almost 10,000 requirements and run 2.7 million simulations in order to pass the rigorous tests. In fact, autonomous trucks have already traveled over 6,000 miles without a driver. The duties of the person in the cab are merely observational.<\/p>

This change doesn’t impact the development program or the implementation of commercial services. Aurora maintains that the technology is ready for the market, but not everyone shares this view.<\/p>

OOIDA: autonomous driving is not enough<\/strong><\/h4>

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), which represents professional drivers, has been raising serious concerns for months regarding the safety of self-driving trucks. Its President Todd Spencer directly states that autonomous systems aren’t ready to fully participate in public traffic.<\/p>

The main concern has to do with phantom braking<\/em>, which is an unjustified sudden braking<\/strong> that could lead to a catastrophe considering the amount of tons these vehicles weigh. Spencer declares that autonomous vehicles are already driving through the roads of some states. However, he stresses that these are still tests under safe, known and controlled conditions. In his opinion, regulations are falling behind the development of this technology \u2014 there is no obligation to report all incidents, and there aren’t any common safety rules and transparent standards regarding the systems’ operation, which hinders their independent assessment.<\/p>

OOIDA demands clear and strict regulations, as well as maintaining the presence of a driver in the cab, as the last line of defense in emergency situations. As the organization underscores, not even the most advanced algorithms guarantee infallibility.<\/p>

Waymo: youth is the future<\/strong><\/h4>

Waymo is planning on activating accounts for teenagers aged 14\u201317. With their parents’ consent, these young folks will be able to take robotaxis on their own, seating on the passenger’s seat. The company hasn’t set a start date yet, but rumor has it that this service will be available already this year.<\/p>

\"\"
Waymo for teenagers | Source: Waymo.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>

The new offer emphasizes the safety features: no driver means there won’t be any risks related to inappropriate behavior<\/strong> \u2014 risks that though uncommon, still raise concerns in the traditional services. The app offers real-time route monitoring, blocking the change of destination and 24\/7 support. They’re also testing additional features \u2014 from food delivery, through karaoke, to a Teen mode<\/em> with an interface for young users. <\/p>

This way, Waymo is trying to gain generational loyalty. Like TikTok or Snapchat, they want to be the first to have young users on board. The company is also considering to add family subscriptions, which could also convince adults to change certain transportation habits.<\/p>

Uber, Hop Skip Drive and the trust barriers<\/strong><\/h4>

At the other extreme we find Uber, whose service Uber Teen<\/em> has been suspended in California, after not meeting the requirement to take fingerprints from the drivers, according to CPUC standards. The safety concerns, especially considering the insufficient verification of drivers and the male predominance amongst them, remain a real obstacle.<\/p>

\"\"
HopSkipDrive for children with trained drivers | Source: hopskipdrive.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Hop Skip Drive, a platform that specializes in the transport of children, remains an alternative. It requires drivers to show proof of childcare experience, and candidates have to go through a tough selection process. Ironically, the absence of a driver could be perceived as a safer option in the future, as long as technology turns out to be really infallible.<\/p>

Waymo road trips: target northeast<\/strong><\/h4>

Waymo isn’t only looking for new young users, but also expanding geographically. In the last weeks, the company has started to offer road trips<\/em> to Philadelphia and New York, two of the most populated areas in northeast USA.<\/p>

The process is well-known: first, vehicles with drivers map the cities thoroughly, and then the company runs tests with the autonomous system (obviously still under a person’s supervision). The collected data are then sent to engineers, who calibrate AI to match the local conditions.<\/p>

Right now, Waymo is trying to influence on local legislators, since New York’s law still forbids to drive without a person on the wheel<\/strong>. Despite that, the company has planned tests including Manhattan (from Central Park to The Battery), Downtown Brooklyn, Jersey City and Hoboken. They’re also planning to launch these services in Miami still this year, and in Washington in 2026.<\/p>

Conclusions: the technology is ready. Society, not so much<\/strong><\/h4>

Aurora and Waymo are two sides of the same revolution: one transports freight, the other people. Both are developing dynamically in their own direction. However, not even the most advanced algorithms can eliminate one variable \u2014 people’s fear of giving up control. Therefore, the future of autonomous vehicles doesn’t depend exclusively on technology, but also on how ready to change our society will be.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aurora and Waymo are intensifying their tests and service development, but the transportation industry and society are still asking crucial questions: is technology really matching human judgment? And what if it isn’t?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":230,"featured_media":12465,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[820,813],"tags":[],"popular":[],"difficulty-level":[],"ppma_author":[844],"class_list":["post-12553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ai-in-practice","category-ai-news-2"],"acf":[],"authors":[{"term_id":844,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"karolina-ceron-2","display_name":"Karolina Cero\u0144","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/PXL_20250419_110132091.MP4-scaled.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/PXL_20250419_110132091.MP4-scaled.jpg"},"first_name":"Karolina","last_name":"Cero\u0144","user_url":"","job_title":"","description":"Wsp\u00f3\u0142tw\u00f3rczyni newslettera AI Flash, studentka psychologii i pasjonatka sztucznej inteligencji. Interesuj\u0119 si\u0119 wp\u0142ywem nowych technologii na cz\u0142owieka, a w wolnych chwilach eksperymentuj\u0119 z generatywn\u0105 grafik\u0105 w Midjourney."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/230"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12553"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12554,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12553\/revisions\/12554"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12553"},{"taxonomy":"popular","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/popular?post=12553"},{"taxonomy":"difficulty-level","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/difficulty-level?post=12553"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haimagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=12553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}