A judge scolded Waymo during an administrative rules proceeding Friday, after the company refused to disclose how many of its robotaxis had stalled during a December power outage in San Francisco.
That information is a trade secret, Waymo’s attorney Jack Stoddard told Senior Administrative Law Judge Robert Mason, drawing snickers from a crowd. Although the company has shared preliminary numbers with regulators, including the Department of Motor Vehicles, Stoddard said that Waymo would risk too much by airing them in a public forum.
Ride-hail drivers, Teamsters, transportation policy wonks and gadflies had gathered in a ground-floor hearing room of the California Public Utilities Commission building on Van Ness Avenue, eager to hear the autonomous vehicle companies get grilled. A sign on a telephone pole outside gave voice to the critics: “Waymo stalls, safety fails. Our streets are not their testing ground.”…