Rollout of Waymo's self-driving taxis in LA is paused amid 'very real public safety concerns' after two crashes within minutes of each other - and one fire

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has put a pause on self-driving car company Waymo's plans to expand its autonomous taxi service in the state. The announcement comes a week after Waymo admitted that not one but two of its self-driving taxis crashed into the very same truck in Arizona back in December. Waymo, which is owned by Google's parent company Alphabet, has had fully autonomous taxis operating in San Francisco since 2022, alongside rival Cruise. The company had requested permission to deploy its fleet of driverless taxis beyond San Francisco in the Bay Area, as well as in Los Angeles. But as of Wednesday, the CPUC has suspended that plan for at least 120 days.