Dozens of Robotaxi Riders Are Falling Asleep, Sparking Frantic Calls For Emergency Services (straitstimes.com)
- Reference: 0184512820
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/07/19/236218/dozens-of-robotaxi-riders-are-falling-asleep-sparking-frantic-calls-for-emergency-services
- Source link: https://www.straitstimes.com/life/motoring/robotaxi-riders-are-falling-asleep-sparking-frantic-emergency-service-calls
> Ditto Kasendar remembers soft music drifting from the robotaxi's speakers as he rode home late at night from a friend's birthday party in 2025. The next moment, Los Angeles firefighters were opening the door and asking if he was OK. His six-minute trip had ended nearly an hour before. A remote Waymo assistant, dialling in through the car's speakers, repeatedly tried to rouse him and finally called 911 when he wouldn't stir...
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> Kasendar's robocab nap was, unfortunately, not an isolated incident. As companies like Alphabet and Tesla bring self-driving taxis to more cities, the messier aspects of serving unpredictable humans are becoming harder to ignore. Passengers are falling asleep, spilling drinks, dropping food, vomiting, experiencing medical emergencies and, in at least two instances, giving birth in the cars. They stumble out of the vehicles and forget to close the doors, forcing the operators to pay nearby gig workers to do it.
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> These seemingly minor nuisances are becoming a drain on municipal resources and complicating the roll-out of robotaxi service. So many robotaxi customers have nodded off in the midst of a ride that Austin police and firefighters even have a name for the incidents: "sleepers". The Texas capital recorded 99 such calls in Waymo's first nine months of service there, said Roger Patterson, a commander with Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services... Remote assistants monitoring the cars try talking through the speakers and checking on passengers with interior cameras. But if they get no response, company protocols often require them to call 911. And first responders have to assume the worst. Austin dispatchers treat an incident as a potential heart attack if the remote assistant can't tell whether the passenger is breathing, Patterson said. In the end, only about 3% of such calls require transporting the passenger to a hospital, he said. But the incidents tie up personnel who might be needed elsewhere.
[1] https://www.straitstimes.com/life/motoring/robotaxi-riders-are-falling-asleep-sparking-frantic-emergency-service-calls
The obvious solution is an eject button. (Score:2)
But then you also need to add a retractable roof.
Re:The obvious solution is an eject button. (Score:4, Funny)
Who says? I'm sure the impact will wake them up.
Re: (Score:2)
> In some cities another body on the sidewalk might not even raise an eyebrow.
Ancient wisdom from my dad, in an age before cell phones...
"In New York they don't want to get involved, but they'll call you an ambulance after they turn the corner. In Chicago they didn't see nothing! Even if they had to step over you."
I've heard both cities have changed a lot in the last 60 years, though.
Possible solution (Score:2)
Shaking seats, loud sirens, maybe even a little water spray?
Re: Possible solution (Score:2)
Build a 4DX theater into the Waymo and I'm sold.
False alarm handling (Score:5, Insightful)
I've worked on police systems that are connected to home alarms. The false alarms got problematic, so police agencies started a 'one false alarm, then you get billed' policy.
Very shortly thereafter, there were multiple vendors offering tracking and billing solutions that would integrate with police call taker / incident tracking systems.
It seems like this would work exceptionally well for robotaxies - give them an economic incentive to find a way to confirm someone is in actual distress prior to calling 911. Like maybe a remotely activated just-below-hearing-damage alarm in the car if you're not moving within 2 minutes of the car pulling up at your destination.
But then there's another fancy option - the car could drive towards the nearest hospital ER or EMS station during the 911 call, with the service's agent reporting location and redirecting or stopping the car if so instructed by the 911 operator.
Re: (Score:2)
The only way I can see that working is if the ambulance operator is allowed to give them a kickback.
Need to add loud and visual alerting (Score:2)
Perhaps they need to add the equivalent of a fire alarms horns and flashing light alerts. They can wake one up from a deep sleep (which is what they are intended to do). Or put a train horn under the seat (although there may be a requirement to clean the seat after using such a horn).
Re: (Score:2)
I've been through residence hall fire drills where the alarms were so loud it was hard to think and found one guy still in his bed, dead to the world. I think the firefighters who were part of the drill just carried him outside.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, passing out in the back of a taxi is definitely the equivalent of grabbing for a cop's gun. I'm glad you spotted that.
Why do I need to be awake (Score:1)
On a taxi? Am I supposed to come to and take control of the vehicle?
A Joy Buzzer Under Every Seat! (Score:3)
Are self closing doors not legal or something? After an entire minute beep for 30 seconds then close. This isn't rocket science, stop pushing the problems onto emergency personnel.
Re:A Joy Buzzer Under Every Seat! (Score:4, Insightful)
Gig workers close the doors, not emergency personnel. But yes, there should be a way to close the doors without human assistance.
Giving birth in a driverless taxi (Score:3)
"I think I'll name him Otto Pilot."
Make them pay (Score:2)
Except for the birth situations, all these taxi services should charge these people for the length of time they're in the vehicle (if they've fallen asleep and the alarms don't wake them), any spills/damage they create, and any time someone else has to be called to close the door.
You're occupying a taxi (in the first situation), damaging company property, and causing additional charges.
If nothing else, profits will go up.
I had an alarm clock from the 1980's (Score:2)
Simple LED display, radio, and the alarm was just a square wave BEEP BEEP BEEP at 90 dB like the house was on fire. I got it for $5 at a yard sale in the 1990's and that was my go-to for waking up my teenage self.
\o/ (Score:1)
Give a discount proportional to the proportion of the journey spent awake with penalties!
Just park it (Score:2)
Why not just park and charge by the minute.
Re: (Score:3)
Because if they're actually having a medical emergency and are unconscious and die, the family will sue for negligence, wrongful death, or who knows what.
So.. drive them somewhere? (Score:3)
This whole process seems very dumb and not thought through.
If someone is not responsive in the back of a vehicle when the ride ends. the vehicle should just BE DRIVEN TO THE NEAREST EMS LOCATION, either the fire department or hospital. Calling the city EMS and wasting their time is nonsensical when the person IS IN A VEHICLE THAT DRIVES ITSELF ALREADY.
Then, if they get to the EMS and it turns out the person is just asleep, then charge them a few hundred dollars and reimburse the city.
Re: (Score:2)
The autonomous car would have to drive the speed limit and stop for all lights on the way to the hospital adding minutes to the trip.. minutes a passenger who is actually having a medical emergency might not have. The passenger will likely get life saving medical attention faster if the ambulance (that can legally exceed the speed limit and run red lights) travels to the car.
Re: (Score:2)
So what?
Do you honestly think that it is going to be faster to
- Call 911
- Get an EMS vehicle dispatched
- Send it to them .. then to just go directly to EMS?
If you do, I think you need to rethink that process. Or, you have never before called 911.
Also, FYI, despite what you may think, ambulances DO have to follow the speed limit.
Re: (Score:2)
The point you're missing is that they don't have to get to an emergency room since an ambulance, unlike an autonomous vehicle, has trained medical personnel on board that can start administering procedures immediately upon arrival.
> Also, FYI, despite what you may think, ambulances DO have to follow the speed limit.
It varies by jurisdiction, but no, they don't. At least in [1]California [cornell.edu], they can legally exceed the speed limit:
> (b) Speed Restriction. In no event shall an ambulance driver exceed a speed of 15 mil
[1] https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/california/13-CCR-1105
The pavlovian solution (Score:2)
A shock collar. Ok maybe just a wristband tethered to the car. Mild misbehavior gets you a warning buzz, and after that you start getting some initially mild shocks that ramp up to safely below seizure level.
If you don't put it on you don't go anywhere, but still are being charged for the time. If you take it off you get dumped to the curb. We'll call it a health monitor.
When everything becomes a shakedown. (Score:2)
> A remote Waymo assistant, dialling in through the car's speakers, repeatedly tried to rouse him and finally called 911 when he wouldn't stir...
Call this what it is; yet another way for those charging insane costs for certain services, to FORCE them upon citizens.
Fell asleep in the back of a cab? That's an emergency service call, charged out by the city to you from at least half a dozen corporations, partnerships, and LLCs at the bargain rate of only $4,700. Per minute.
Tracking your teenage driver on the new insurance-tattling app? Best read the fine print before you find out a fucking fender bender triggered $279,000 worth of emergency service
Funny..ha ha? (Score:1)
This would be kind of hilarious if it wasn’t such a drain on public resources. Maybe the cars should have a mechanical prod coupled with the sound of wailing infants a playing at an uncomfortably loud volume to wake the drunks. That and the passenger should be liable of for all associated cost if 911 is called. A $500-$1500 surcharge would be a mighty incentive for better behavior.
Well Duh! (Score:5, Insightful)
Did it not occur to them that a lot of the demand for robotaxis would be from folks too tired, ill, drunk, or stoned to drive themselves or take public transit? This shouldn't be a surprise.
I have to wonder if the geniuses who started these services ever consulted cab companies and drivers before the fact to have a better understanding of what they were taking on. I'm guessing that they didn't, or maybe they just didn't listen.
Maybe they DID anticipate these things and just said "Fuck it - let's move fast, break things, and externalize the cost 'cause that's what we do best.
Design issues (Score:2)
Loud speaker with a WAKE UP recording along with self-closing doors should be de rigueur.
But these are just a few of the "I did not realize everything a Taxi Driver did." problem. There will be more.
As in moving luggage and helping elderly/disabled people into a vehicle.
"unpredictable humans" (Score:2)
What, exactly, is unpredictable about a sedentary human falling asleep? People do that while driving.
These robo-car companies imagine attentive humans, amazed and alert at all times, enjoying the thrill of this wonderful service, eager to swipe away with their payment devices.
Taser (Score:2)
Progressively up the amps. At a certain level without a response then you call 911.
No One Could Have Known? (Score:2)
Didn't we all think that eliminating human workers, in this case taxi drivers, would be nothing but unicorns and rainbows for everyone. Maybe we could use AI to screen passengers for risk, and then only serve those most likely to not cause our robots trouble?
Re: (Score:3)
Not an entirely new problem. Taxi/Uber/Lyft drivers also can end up with sleepers. And if the gentle(???) yelling to get out of their vehicle does not result in the individual waking up, they, too, can end up calling 911.