Court allows Waymo to keep ‘incident’ data under wraps, so what are they hiding?
Transparency what?
Story byIoanna Lykiardopoulou
Ioanna is a writer at TNW. She covers the full spectrum of the European tech ecosystem, with a particular interest in startups, sustainabili(show all)Ioanna is a writer at TNW. She covers the full spectrum of the European tech ecosystem, with a particular interest in startups, sustainability, green tech, AI, and EU policy. With a background in the humanities, she has a soft spot for social impact-enabling technologies.
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What’s the story?
In January, Waymo sued the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), to prevent the agency from disclosing what it considers “trade secrets.”
According to thelawsuit, in October 2021, the DMV notified Waymo that an anonymous third party requested to view the company’s application for its autonomous vehicle deployment permit, along with email correspondence between Waymo and DMV.
Waymo provided the DMV withredacted versionsof the requested documents, to protect the company’s “proprietary and trade secret information.”
But this wasn’t enough for the unnamed requester, who challenged the redactions of the original.
The DMV then advised the company to resolve the situation by suing… theDMV. And Waymo… won.
What’s this super-secret information about?
Well, only crucial safety and crash data — nothing too important.
Specifically, the company doesn’t want to disclose information about:
Should Waymo withhold this information in the first place?
From a business point of view, I get it. By releasing information regarding its safety practices and technology, Waymo could give its competitors an edge. No company would want to disclose trade secrets, right?
But there are also some ethical considerations. Shouldn’t this data be open to the publicanyway?
Here’s what a Waymo spokesperson said toTechCrunch:
Yes,Waymo’s websitehas safety reports and performance data, but none of those files include actual information about what really matters to passengers: what happens when the vehicle loses or gives up control, or even collides?
It’s exactly this level of transparency that every AV company should aim for, especially since the technology is being tested on public streets with actual human passengers on board.
People aresuspicious of autonomous vehiclesand would stillprefer a human driver over an AI.They will be difficult to sway if the risks are covered up.
