Latest news with #CaliforniaPublicUtilitiesCommission
Business Insider
5 hours ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Here's how quickly people started taking robotaxis as Waymo expanded in California
Since its debut to the California public in 2022, Waymo has seen a rapid increase in ridership, showing how humans are increasingly entrusting their lives to robot drivers. Here are a few numbers that show it. In March 2022, Waymo provided more than 3,700 rides, according to data published by the California Public Utilities Commission. At the time, Waymo was limited to staff or pre-approved riders in San Francisco. The company would later open a waitlist, allowing limited members of the public to sign up for rides. The Alphabet company expanded to Los Angeles in November 2024 and other parts of the San Francisco Bay Area in March 2025, increasing the number of rides to 708,180 in the state. Another way to look at it: When Waymo began offering paid rides in August 2023, the number of rides provided in California was just 12,617. In less than two years, the number of riders increased by more than 5,500%. In total, Waymo provided more than 5 million rides in three years. Naturally, the number of traffic incidents also increased. Between March and May 2022, Waymo reported 17 collisions, the CPUC data showed. Between January and March 2025, the number of collisions increased to 132. However, an analysis by Business Insider showed that the rate of collisions decreased significantly when incidents per 100,000 rides were considered. Between March and May 2022, the rate of collisions was about 147 collisions per 100,000 rides. Between January and March 2025, when Waymo provided more than 1.8 million rides, the rate decreased to about 7 collisions per 100,000 rides — about a 95% decrease from 2022. The CPUC data only shows a part of Waymo's overall expansion. Waymo said that it had provided more than 5 million rides across all operating cities by the end of 2024. In May, the company said it had surpassed 10 million rides across its operating cities in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin. That means Waymo just about doubled its ridership in less than half a year. In a recent blog post, the company said it operates 1,500 robotaxis and plans to add 2,000 more by 2026.
San Francisco Chronicle
3 days ago
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
Letters: California's net-metering change is killing rooftop solar. That's why we sued to save it
Rooftop solar is a clean and cheap source of energy that could power our communities without the excessive transmission infrastructure that ignited some of the state's biggest wildfires. With our ample sunlight, it only makes sense that California would lean into solar energy. Thus, I was outraged by the California Public Utilities Commission's 2022 decision to gut net energy metering, the very policy that enables rooftop solar to pay for itself. In so doing, the commission hamstrung solar energy production and cost the industry 17,000 jobs, according to the California Solar & Storage Association. That's why my organization teamed up with others to challenge the decision in a case now before the California Supreme Court. There will be a hearing on Wednesday in Los Angeles, and I urge Californians to tune in and to support local solar. Rooftop solar can power resilience hubs that our communities can use in the event of power shut-offs. It also allows a pathway for communities of color, often burdened with the pollution from dirty energy, to share in the wealth and savings of the clean energy future. California should make it easier, not harder, for us to use the solar energy that beams down over us. The reason projects often come under CEQA attack is that local planners and approving authorities try to cut corners. The city of Napa declared the proposed day care center in question to be 'categorically exempt' from any CEQA review when the operator's own data showed an increase of 1,000 auto trips per day impacting an already dangerously congested intersection. Concerned citizens called the city's procedural errors to the attention of officials when they still could have been remedied. Had the city taken a few more steps in the CEQA process, its project approval would have been bulletproof. Instead, it chose to ignore the rules and gave opponents grounds for a bona fide legal challenge. Public officials should not blame the law or villainize concerned citizens when agency corner-cutting causes delays and expense to worthy projects. Bill bad on guns The House-passed 'Big Beautiful Bill' contains a provision that will eliminate the registration and ownership requirements for gun silencers that have been in place since 1934. These devices reduce the sound of gunfire and make semi-automatic weapons such as AR-15s even more dangerous. Al Comolli, Millbrae
Wall Street Journal
5 days ago
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
It's Waymo's World. We're All Just Riding in It.
The website of the California Public Utilities Commission is not the first place you would go looking for signs of progress in one of the world's sexiest industries. But every few months, this agency tasked with regulating passenger transportation publishes a bunch of spreadsheets with valuable information about self-driving cars and how many people are riding in them. And in the latest data that was recently dumped online, there was a telling update about a company identified simply as PSG0038152.
San Francisco Chronicle
24-05-2025
- Automotive
- San Francisco Chronicle
Waymo's driverless taxi service expanding into the South Bay
Waymo on Monday said it received approval from the California Public Utilities Commission to bring its driverless taxi operation to the South Bay and most parts of San Jose. The new territories where Waymo is expected to offer its ride-hailing service include a large area of land near the future San Jose BART line and a portion of Interstate 280, the Chronicle previously reported. The company currently serves more than 250,000 passenger trips across San Francisco, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Austin, Texas, according to a blog post. The company filed its safety plan for the South Bay expansion with the PUC in March, according to previous Chronicle reporting. Waymo received approval from the California Department of Motor Vehicles for the expansion on March 17. 'While this won't change our operations in the near-term, we're looking forward to bringing the benefits of Waymo One to more of the Bay Area in the future,' the company said on social media. Last week, newly-released regulatory filings revealed Waymo had recalled more than 1,200 self-driving vehicles.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Edison will pay U.S. a record $82.5 million in Bobcat fire settlement
Southern California Edison has agreed to pay $82.5 million to cover costs and damages from the 2020 Bobcat fire in what federal officials are calling a record settlement for one of the largest blazes in Los Angeles County. Federal officials allege that the Bobcat fire, which burned more than 114,000 acres in 2020, ignited when trees that were not properly maintained by Southern California Edison and its tree maintenance contractor came into contact with power lines. Edison agreed to pay the settlement within 60 days of the effective date of the agreement, which was May 14, without admitting wrongdoing or fault. The utility did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. The U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles called it "the largest-ever wildfire cost recovery settlement" by the government in the Central District of California. 'This record settlement against Southern California Edison provides meaningful compensation to taxpayers for the extensive costs of fighting the Bobcat Fire and for the widespread damage to public lands,' U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli said in a news release. 'My office will continue to aggressively pursue recovery for suppression costs and environmental damages from any entity that causes harm to the public's forests and other precious national resources." The settlement comes as Edison seeks to raise customer rates by 10% in order to pay for wildfire mitigation and cover 'reasonable costs of its operations, facilities [and] infrastructure," according to the utility giant's request filing. It also comes just months after fire ravaged Pacific Palisades and Altadena. The California Public Utilities Commission is expected to make a decision this summer on the request. If approved, the rate hike would mean an $18 average increase in monthly electrical bills for Edison's 15 million customers. Read more: Edison's proposed rate hike angers L.A. wildfire survivors The federal government filed a lawsuit in September 2023 on behalf of the Forest Service against Edison and Utility Tree Service seeking damages in excess of $121 million for the cost of extinguishing the Bobcat fire and the resulting damage to property and natural resources. The fire, which began on Sept. 6, 2020, destroyed 87 homes, 83 other structures and 178 vehicles. An additional 28 homes were also damaged and at least six firefighters were injured while battling the fire. Federal officials said it also resulted in years of closure of more than 100 miles of trails and numerous campgrounds and had a harmful impact on habitats and wildlife, including to the "federally endangered wildlife-mountain yellow-legged frog, federally threatened fish and birds and irreplaceable cultural and heritage resources." 'These settlements are essential in restoring our landscapes after wildfires," acting U.S. Forest Service Pacific Southwest Regional Forester Jason Kuiken said in the news release. Tony Martinez, deputy forest supervisor for the Angeles National Forest, said the resources would "help rehabilitate burned areas, restore wildlife habitats, and strengthen our forests' resilience to future wildfires." Edison's safety record declined last year, with the number of fires sparked by its equipment soaring to 178, from 90 the year before and 39% above the five-year average. In April, the chief executive of Southern California Edison's parent company said that the company was likely to suffer 'material losses' related to the deadly Eaton fire, which ignited on Jan. 7 and burned more than 14,000 acres in and around Altadena. Investigations into the cause of the fire are continuing and have not concluded that Edison's equipment sparked the blaze, Edison International Chief Executive Pedro Pizarro said during the company's first-quarter earnings call in April. Edison has previously acknowledged that it could be responsible for the blaze and said this month that a dormant power line might have been the cause. The Eaton fire killed 18 people and destroyed thousands of homes and other structures. Early estimates put the cost of damage at $10 billion, but experts said that number would grow. Times staff writer Caroline Petrow-Cohen contributed to this report. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
