SAN FRANCISCO -- Driveless cars are causing traffic jams and anxiety in San Francisco, the first city in the United States to allow driverless robotaxis to operate 24/7 (24 hours a day, 7 days a week) throughout the city.

In California, there are more than 40 companies that have permits to test self-driving cars, and the mass-produced cars are giving taxi drivers heavy pressure. But two companies -- Cruise owned by GM and Waymo owned by Google -- have just got the green light to operate throughout San Francisco, expand their fleets, and charge customers fares.
The testing has been full of mishaps with driverless cars inexplicably stopping in traffic. The San Francisco fire department documented 55 incidents involving autonomous vehicles. But that didn't stop California's Public Utility Commission from voting 3-1 to approve expansion, much to the disappointment of taxi drivers.
"It's going to hurt us. Uber and Lyft -- they are already hurting our business. We don't need an additional competition," said Jessie Reyes, a taxi driver.
Just a day after the approval, social media lit up with videos of Cruise autonomous vehicles stopping and causing traffic jams as the city's Outside Lands Music Festival took place.
Cruise apologized on X, formerly known as Twitter, saying the large festival posed wireless bandwidth constraints, causing delayed connectivity to our vehicles.
Robotaxi passengers said they had enjoyed the rides for the most part while having experienced hiccups.
"It was kind of a weird intersection and it kind of just stopped in the middle and there were some cars that were coming. It obviously didn't know what to do, and it just stopped," said Solan Megerssa, a passenger.
"It stopped for a reason it was behind a tow truck or something with hazards on in the middle of the street. And the car didn't know, so I was waiting behind that car for like five minutes, Someone calls and they said we're trying to figure it out," said Alexis Bea, another passenger.
Ahmed Banafa, a technology analyst in San Jose State University, expressed his views on the issue, valuing it as an opportunity for insiders to promote the development of the industry.
"All of these things are glitches and bugs in the algorithm. The good thing about it is the car stops, it's not accelerating, it's not taking any other action. The problem is if it's not done in San Francisco, it's going to be done somewhere else. And this is the opportunity we don't want to lose," said Banafa.