San Francisco transportation officials met with representatives from Waymo this week to address ongoing safety concerns from school crossing guards, who say they’ve almost been hit by the company’s driverless cars while ushering children and their families through crosswalks.
City officials and Waymo confirmed the hour-long meeting meeting took place in-person on Wednesday and covered a range of topics.
The discussion included conversations about the potential safety risks Waymo’s vehicles are accused of posing near schools, according to a spokesperson for San Francisco Mayor London Breed.
The meeting comes on the heels of an NBC Bay Area investigation, which surveyed 30 school crossing guards stationed at more than 20 different schools across San Francisco. While some said they believed autonomous vehicles were safer than their human counterparts, nearly one in four crossing guards reported experiencing at least one “close call” in the crosswalk with a Waymo robotaxi, where they either had to rush out of the way to avoid being hit or said the car had to break abruptly to avoid a collision.
Waymo and SF officials have 'constructive discussion' about safety concerns
A spokesperson from Waymo called the meeting with city officials a “constructive discussion,” adding “this is an important opportunity for us to hear feedback as well as to share more details about our technology, including how our vehicles communicate with other road users.”
Waymo, owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet, has repeatedly stated that it stands by its safety record and says its cars are programmed to give pedestrians enough time to safely make their way through a crosswalk.
Head of crossing guard union said city officials wouldn't allow him to attend Waymo meeting
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Absent from the meeting was Joel Kamisher, the union representative for the city’s more than 170 school crossing guards.
Kamisher told NBC Bay Area he had hoped to attend so he could learn what was being done to keep crossing guards and students safe, but he said city officials would not allow it. Kamisher, however, said he remains optimistic since both sides agreed to discuss crossing guards’ concerns.
“I hope that the people that work for Waymo will realize it’s in their best interest to cooperate with the city and all the regulators to be candid about what goes wrong and acknowledge it, and learn from it, and improve from it,” Kamisher said.
"Waymo has got to be a good corporate citizen...and learn from their mistakes and make corrections."
SF leaders aren't saying much about what was discussed with Waymo team
It’s unclear what San Francisco leaders hope will come from the meeting or why Kamisher was not granted access, as city transportation officials and the mayor’s office declined to provide those details or sit down with NBC Bay Area for an interview.
In a statement, the mayor’s office said it expects all vehicles, including driverless cars, to comply with the rules of the road.
In San Francisco, students are scheduled to head back to school next week, which means crossing guards will again return to their assigned posts at intersections across the city. Ahead of their arrival, San Francisco transportation officials revamped its biannual training sessions for crossing guards to include, for the first time, safety discussions about driverless vehicles, which cross guards were required to attend earlier this month.
“They gave some common-sense tips about things to do, like make sure that the [driverless] car has come to a complete stop before you step out,” Kamisher said. “They also asked us to start reporting any kind of close encounters we have.”
Watch our entire investigative series
- Part 1: Driverless cars seek San Francisco expansion despite worries tech is unsafe
- Part 2: CPUC votes to expand driverless car operations in San Francisco
- Part 3: San Francisco city attorney files motion to pump the brakes on driverless cars
- Part 4: Google's Waymo says insurance data shows its driverless cars are safer than humans
- Part 5: Hit-and-run driver strikes pedestrian, tossing her into path of Cruise car in San Francisco
- Part 6: Driverless trucks and robot deliveries promise fewer traffic jams than robotaxis
- Part 7: Cruise says its robotaxis can now better detect emergency vehicles
- Part 8: California DMV orders Cruise's driverless cars off the road
- Part 9: Driverless cars immune from traffic tickets in California under current laws
- Part 10: GM's Cruise lays off nearly 25% of its workforce
- Part 11: Waymo's driverless cars surpass 7 million miles, but are they safer than human drivers?
- Part 12: Cruise probe blames poor internet, bad leadership, and "flawed" decisions for company's woes
- Part 13: Driverless Cruise car accused of almost hitting 7 yr old after similar close call involving kids
- Part 14: Cruise offers to pay $112,500 in fines to settle claims driverless car company misled regulators
- Part 15: Uber Eats now uses Waymo Self-Driving cars to offer driverless deliveries
- Part 16: Bills aimed at closing traffic ticket loophole for driverless cars get initial green light
- Part 17: School crossing guards say they've had to dodge driverless cars to avoid being hit
- Part 18: Cruise ordered to pay $112,500 in penalties for withholding info from regulators
- Part 19: Waymo waitlist over in SF, all can hail driverless cars
- Part 20: SF Mayor vows to hold driverless car companies accountable after NBC Bay Area report
- Part 21: San Francisco govt. officials meet with Waymo to discuss safety concerns near schools
- Part 22: California DMV gears up to allow driverless trucking despite calls to restrict high-tech big rigs
- Part 23: Cruise to abandon robotaxi business after tumultuous year
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