Uber adds livestreams, Waymo disses Tesla and test drivers are getting hurt. LegalRideshare breaks it down.
UBER ADDS LIVESTREAMS
Uber is launching livestreaming for teen accounts. TechCrunch reported:
The new livestreaming feature uses the driver’s selfie camera for the video feed. Once the ride starts, the parent or guardian account gets a notification if the video stream is available. If they choose to watch the stream, both the driver and the teen are notified.
Uber said that only parents’ or guardians’ accounts linked to the teen’s account can look at the livestream. There is no opt-out for others who might be traveling with the teen to not appear on the live feed.
Once the ride ends, no one, including the driver, the teen, or the parent or the guardian, has access to the video. While Uber said the video is “encrypted,” it is not clear if it’s end-to-end encrypted, meaning that Uber would not be able to access the recording. A spokesperson for Uber did not say when asked by TechCrunch.
The company said that the feature is live in nine markets, including Atlanta, Cleveland, Rhode Island, and others. Over the coming weeks, it will be available across the entire United States.
WAYMO TAKES SHOTS AT TESLA
Waymo has some choice words for Tesla. Electrek reported:
Waymo published a list of “10 AI lessons” from driving more than 200 million fully autonomous miles, and several of them read as a direct rebuke of Tesla’s self-driving strategy — without ever naming Tesla.
The sharpest: trying to turn a driver-assist system into full autonomy is a “false summit,” according to Waymo. That’s exactly what Tesla is attempting with Full Self-Driving.
Waymo’s argument is that neither billions of simulated miles nor millions of “supervised” human-present miles can replicate what a system learns once it operates with no human backup. That’s a pointed contrast with Tesla, which trains FSD on data from a fleet of customer cars whose drivers remain legally responsible for the vehicle.
The confidence has numbers behind it. Waymo is now serving more than 500,000 paid, fully driverless rides every week across its US markets, and it has set a target of one million by the end of the year.
Tesla, by comparison, still runs a small “Robotaxi” service that launched in Austin with human safety monitors in the car, and by some counts its fleet has shrunk rather than grown. CEO Elon Musk has promised “unsupervised” FSD would be widespread by year-end — a target he has moved repeatedly.
A year into the program, Tesla confirmed last month that it has driven only 380,000 unsupervised miles — something Waymo does in a day.
WAYMO TEST DRIVERS GETTING HURT
Waymo test drivers are getting hurt. TechCrunch reported:
Test drivers for Waymo and Zoox sustained more than two dozen injuries in 2024 and 2025 from hard braking or other sudden movements made by the autonomous vehicles, according to a TechCrunch review of data submitted to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
These test drivers, who put autonomous vehicles through their paces on public roads, have suffered sprains, strains, whiplash, and more, according to OSHA data and interviews with former and current workers. Some have been sidelined for weeks or months.
Transdev, which employs and manages Waymo’s test drivers, reported 16 injuries tied to Waymo depot locations in three cities that were caused by the autonomous software braking hard or swerving suddenly. Zoox reported as many as eight worker injuries linked to hard braking.
Two current and three former Zoox contractors told TechCrunch that the company’s test fleet vehicles — modified Toyota Highlander SUVs equipped with its self-driving system — were still braking hard and abruptly as recently as July. Three of those contractors said workers are still getting hurt. The workers were granted anonymity to discuss private operations.
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