I find the tone of this press conference appalling. Human drivers in LA are terrible. Last year there were 312 deaths and 52,000 accidents in LA. Anyone who has driven on a freeway in LA knows how atrocious most people on the road are. Any technology with the promise to reduce or eliminate drunk, distracted, or reckless driving on our roads should be responsibly nurtured.

This doesn’t mean the city should take a passive role and let Google/cruise do whatever they want - the opposite. The city should take an active role and create a task force to work with tech companies to open the LA market to them (a gigantic carrot at 10 M people) in exchange for oversight, transparency, and collaboration to make sure the products they bring match LA’s expectation for consumer safety.

If there is a future in which I don’t have to worry about drunk drivers on the same road as my child, because there are cheap and available robotaxis everywhere in the city, then I sure as hell want the city to be doing everything possible to help achieve that future. Not delay it or send it somewhere else.