Waymo wants to put fully driverless cars on Washington, D.C.’s streets, but a source close to the White House is questioning whether its technology can handle the capital’s security demands and raising concerns about its use of Chinese-built vehicles.
In Dallas, police and Secret Service personnel had to push a Waymo out of the way after it stopped in an intersection and blocked a presidential motorcade.
“The RNC incident proves they’re not ready for prime time,” the source told The Daily Wire.
Financial Times correspondent Joe Miller was riding in a Waymo to the Republican midterm convention when the vehicle stopped in an intersection where police officers were directing traffic, blocking a presidential motorcade.
“I need this vehicle to be out of here now, or it will be crushed,” a Secret Service agent told Miller. Secret Service personnel and police officers ultimately pushed the Waymo out of the way, Miller said.
A Waymo spokesperson told The Daily Wire that the vehicle recognized an officer’s hand gestures directing it to turn right across multiple lanes of traffic. Because of the maneuver’s complexity, however, it was programmed to seek remote assistance before proceeding. The spokesperson said Waymo is working to reduce its reliance on that assistance.
The source questioned how Waymo would navigate D.C., where motorcades and sudden street closures are routine.
“I can’t fathom a scenario in which they’d welcome DC streets being used as a testing ground for unproven Chinese-manufactured cars who have yet to master being able to adapt to the frequent and spontaneous events like the routine use of motorcades,” the source said. “This sounds like a dangerous idea that’s not ready for the unique challenges that exist in our nation’s capital.”
The source also said the use of Chinese-manufactured vehicles would likely raise security concerns within the administration.
“These things are covered in cameras, and now you’re gonna send them around all the most sensitive national monuments, national security sites, without the ability to recognize the President needs to be extricated from a situation like we saw at the correspondent’s dinner,” the source said.
Waymo’s spokesperson distinguished between where the vehicles are manufactured and where their autonomous driving technology is installed. The company equips its Chinese-built vehicles with its proprietary driving system at a facility in Arizona, where computers and sensors are assembled and installed, and software is loaded before the vehicles are sent to other markets.
The spokesperson said Waymo complies with all applicable U.S. laws and federal requirements and has a strong commercial incentive to protect its technology from Chinese competitors seeking to expand into markets such as Europe.
Waymo’s plans for fully driverless service in Washington depend on changes to District law. Currently, autonomous vehicle testing on District streets requires a human operator behind the wheel, ready to take control. A bill before the D.C. Council would establish a framework allowing robotaxis to operate without a human backup driver.
Councilmember Charles Allen, who introduced the bill, told The Washington Post that Waymo has mounted an extensive lobbying campaign to enter the D.C. market.
“I think they’ve hired every lobbyist in D.C.,” Allen told the Post. “They have been knocking on my door for years.”
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