Self-driving taxi kills dog in San Francisco

A report filed with the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles detailing the circumstances surrounding the collision suggested that it could not be avoided. But the negative headlines the story has generated will do little to silence mounting criticism of the continued expansion of autonomous vehicle (AV) operations in the city.

The report states: “On May 21, 2023 at 10.56 a.m. PT, a Waymo Autonomous Vehicle was in a collision involving a small dog on Toland Street at Toland Place. The Waymo AV was traveling southwest on Toland Street when a small dog ran into the street in front of the Waymo AV. The Waymo AV then made contact with the dog, which did not survive. At the time of the impact, the Waymo AV’s Level 4 ADS was engaged in autonomous mode, and a test driver was present (in the driver’s seating position). The Waymo AV sustained damage.”

Toland Street is a low-speed road to the west of the India Basin area, where coincidentally Waymo has a depot for its fleet of vehicles.

The self-driving taxi in question was one of Waymo’s converted Jaguar i-Pace models, which use a suite of sensors and custom mapping to deliver their automated functionality.

In comments reported by various media outlets after the release of the DMV report, Waymo acknowledged the incident and said an internal investigation was ongoing.

“The initial review confirmed that the system correctly identified the dog which ran out from behind a parked vehicle but was not able to avoid contact. We send our sincere condolences to the dog’s owner. The trust and safety of the communities we are in is the most important thing to us and we’re continuing to look into this on our end.”

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