It’s always sunny in autonomous news
The PR professionals hawking autonomous put P.T. Barnum to shame
“For God’s sake, this is Toronto, not Texas.”
–Bernice, 80-year-old widow of a Taxi driver
Matt Elliott’s December 2nd coverage of the fact that “Waymo is eyeing Toronto” brings to mind one of my favourite, pure common-sense Taxi industry memories.
“For God’s sake, this is Toronto, not Texas. Do people actually think we’re going to stand outside in January to order a taco from a food truck?”
This sentence, blurted in exasperation by the widow of a Taxi plate owner at a Toronto Licensing committee meeting over a decade ago, echoes in my mind whenever I am forced to listen to conversations about autonomous vehicles and robo-cabs.
Bernice, the 80-year-old woman who uttered it, was exhausted with sitting through hours of committee debate waiting to get to the Taxi item of concern to her. A food truck licensing item was on the agenda ahead of the Taxi plate item, and it was dragging on interminably. When my street-smart seatmate finally blurted out the painfully obvious observation that Toronto would never enjoy the robust “Food Truck Alley” culture that Austin, Texas had managed to develop, I burst out with a laugh so loud it startled Councillors.
Perhaps Bernice’s words of wisdom might bring some comfort to professional drivers who fear their livelihoods are being threatened by autonomous vehicles: “For God’s sake, this is Toronto, not Texas.”
Before anyone gets the impression that I am being needlessly negative and/or not taking autonomous vehicles seriously enough, please let me assure you: I pay close attention to developments in autonomous. That may well be the reason I remain highly skeptical of the viability of the concept as a whole, and that’s BEFORE the snow starts falling.
Incredible public relations hype
Because working on the media side as opposed to the road side of professional driving, I see the press releases. I read the articles. I view the videos. I cover the press conferences. The amount of bullshit flying is ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL.
The spokespersons and public relations professionals selling autonomous concepts would put P.T. Barnum to shame: Barnum claimed there was a sucker born every minute. I fear Elon Musk believes suckers are born WAY more often than that.
Actually, Musk could be taken as a textbook example in comparing the over-the-top marketing of autonomous ground transportation, as opposed to the reality of delivering it. “We’re going to turn parking lots into parks!” he promised at a the October, 2024 WeRobot launch. A year later, Musk was scaling back and climbing down on his prediction that “half of the United States” would soon access autonomous services now, its “8 or 10 markets” (most of them sunny, I am guessing).
On June 22, 2025, Tesla launched a limited robotaxi service in Austin. If you only read the press release or caught a glimpse of the pandering mainstream media coverage, this event heralded the end of ground transportation as we know it, and woe to all the pathetic, professional human drivers.
Services tested in sunny weather
In fact, it was an invite-only, trial run with “safety drivers” in the passenger seat of the vehicle. A few social media influencers were offered the chance to take a ride with a flat fee of $4.20 in a tiny, geo-fenced area of sunny Austin Texas for an afternoon.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 10, 2025
Waymo seems to be doing a better job of actually delivering services – in sun-drenched Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Austin, and Atlanta. Mind you, Forbes Magazine reports that Waymo is “burning through cash” and while Google does not break down Waymo’s financials, its Other Bets segment, which includes the robotaxi startup, posted a $4.4 billion loss over the last fiscal year. So there’s that.
Crunching the numbers to determine whether autonomous vehicles or “robo-taxis” can ever actually make money is just one element of the whole equation. Having covered Toronto’s Taxi industry for 40 years, and having had lively conversations with smart human beings oozing common sense and practical knowledge daily, I have to wonder how the promoters soliciting investments in autonomous vehicles have completely missed the pesky “human nature” side of things.
Pesky human criminals
For example, what about crime? What about the shady characters, drug dealers and others, who would find nefarious uses for a warm, rolling workspace with no driver in the seat?
What about vandals and thieves, or even just mischievous teenagers who will no doubt find a way to damage expensive vehicles unguarded by any driver?
I’ve seen the hilarious clips of Waymos driving hopelessly in circles in crowded shopping mall parking lots. Those are nothing compared to the report of 40 Waymos called to one single, dead-end San Francisco street where they all became hopelessly stuck.
Unless engineers are researching a way to change human nature while they are perfecting autonomous technology, the future is going to see perfect cars in collision with imperfect human beings predictably frequently. Ask any cop, or any cab driver.
(“Last mile” delivery robots, as a segment of autonomous, are a related but separate topic, which I’ll cover in an upcoming column.)
Truly talented PR spokespersons
Possibly, fellow industry observers subject to the torrent of hysterical press releases and non-stop ephemeral announcements by Uber (which have included things like free puppy cuddles, free ice cream in summer, and lacy bras on Valentine’s Day) may have become so inured to the public relations nonsense that we barely notice how crazy the idea of autonomous vehicles in the Canadian winter are.
But I don’t think firms soliciting investors into their autonomous schemes care at all about whether they’ll ever need to prove their technology will thrive or survive in snow, sleet, or slush. I worry that their goal is not to actually provide ground transportation or delivery services, but simply to persuade investors to part with cash.
This may be more obvious to media members who receive the entire information kit than it is to members of the general public who only see the fawning, non-critical articles which result from the press conferences.
The text below, from a December 3rd, 2025 media release received by Taxi News, is typical of forward-looking statements which accompany many media releases on autonomous vehicles and robo-taxis. Identifying corporate information has been redacted to prevent nasty lawyers’ letters:
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENT:
This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding XXXXX’s future business plans, expectations, and opportunities. These statements include those regarding the design and target specifications of its xxxxx, the pace of design, development, certification, testing, manufacturing and commercialization of its planned xxxxx, or its ability to do so at all; risks associated with the expansion of its planned lines of business and development of new business opportunities; xxxxx network buildout; plans to design and demonstrate trial operations under the xxxx; plans and anticipated benefits of acquisitions, strategic investments, and collaborations with third parties. In addition, this press release refers to agreements that remain conditional, subject to the future execution of definitive agreements and the satisfaction of certain conditions. Such agreements may not be completed or may contain different terms than those currently contemplated. These forward-looking statements are only predictions and may differ materially from actual results due to a variety of factors. The risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from the results predicted are more fully detailed in XXXXX filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, available at www.sec.gov. In addition, please note that any forward-looking statements contained herein are based on assumptions that XXXXX believes to be reasonable as of the date of this press release. XXXXX undertakes no obligation to update these statements as a result of new information or future events.
