Can Bike Riders and Self-Driving Cars Be Friends?

Los Angeles is a car city, and it’s seldom much evident than from a susceptible perch connected apical of a bicycle. Among large cities successful the US, LA has a middling-to-bad estimation for motorcycle riding. A deficiency of connected cycling lanes and harmless crossings led 1 nationalist cycling advocacy enactment to precocious fertile LA’s motorcycle web 1,136th successful the nation. The city’s car leanings are inscribed connected its infrastructure—with deadly consequences. According to 1 section outlet, astatine slightest 12 Angelenos person died portion riding this year.

So it’s astonishing that Eli Akira Kaufman, the enforcement manager of the LA region cycling advocacy radical BikeLA, is beauteous excited astir a car. Specifically, a car driven by a robot.

For much than a twelvemonth now, the Alphabet subsidiary Waymo has been picking up riders successful the occidental fractional of the city. Kaufman likes what helium sees. “They don’t thrust stressed, tired, inebriated, racist,” helium says. He finds Waymos aviator predictably, mostly adhering to postulation laws. When he’s riding, “I deprioritize them successful presumption of my level of concern. I tin absorption connected the quality drivers.”

Kaufman’s feelings correspond a displacement for the cycling community, and thing similar a schism. For years, immoderate motorcycle riders person viewed the efforts of autonomous conveyance tech developers—and the automakers supporting them—with heavy suspicion. Self-driving cars are, aft all, cars, which are dense and dangerous; much than 40,000 Americans dice successful postulation incidents each year. Moreover, if autonomous vehicles neatly regenerate the cars and trucks of today, advocates interest that different forms of proscription suffer out. The semipermanent effect of doubling down connected car question mightiness beryllium sprawling cities with fewer opportunities for low-cost, emissions-free ways to get around. Exactly, 1 mightiness argue, the benignant of cities that beryllium today.

But arsenic much self-driving conveyance services popular up astir the country, they person racked up a information grounds that, portion acold from definitive, seems to amended connected the show of humans. Waymo’s latest information suggests that, successful the cities wherever it operates, its vehicles are progressive successful 92 percent less crashes that injure pedestrians, and 78 less crashes that injure cyclists.

This has led immoderate cycling advocates to instrumentality a much pragmatic attack to the tech. “I don’t deliberation anyone, including autonomous conveyance operators, deliberation that taking drivers retired of the equation is going to single-handedly lick America's postulation information crisis,” says Joe Cutrufo, the enforcement manager of BikeHouston. Waymo began investigating successful Houston successful May, and the Texas metropolis has seen investigating from companies including Nuro and Cruise. “But we request to beryllium open-minded astir solutions that tin bring results quickly.”

As much of the caller tech pops up connected metropolis streets, activists are asking a question that moves good beyond wheels: How should a aboriginal metropolis be?

Budding Relationships

Cycling groups accidental that immoderate autonomous conveyance developers person mostly done what different proscription companies don’t: They’ve shown up. Waymo’s representatives hop connected Zoom meetings with motorcycle lobbyists. They marque appearances astatine section events. “Companies similar Waymo and Zoox person proactively approached us, asked america astir their technology, and asked america to conscionable with their engineers,” says Kendra Ramsey, the enforcement manager of CalBike, a California bicycling advocacy radical based successful Sacramento.

The autonomous conveyance manufacture besides writes checks. Waymo sponsored past year’s National Bike Summit successful Washington DC, a lobbying lawsuit hosted by the nonprofit League of American Bicyclists, and volition sponsor adjacent year’s event, too. Local groups, including BikeLA and BikeHouston, number Waymo among “partners,” and Zoox joined the Alphabet subsidiary—and organizations including Caltrans and AARP California—as sponsors for CalBike’s yearly meeting.