内容来源：https://www.geekwire.com/2025/home-to-amazon-and-microsoft-seattle-passengers-still-cant-hail-a-driverless-ride/

内容总结：

尽管美国旧金山、洛杉矶、菲尼克斯、奥斯汀和亚特兰大等城市的居民已能通过手机预约全自动驾驶出租车，但作为全美领先科技中心之一的西雅图，乘客们却依然只能在路边苦等。

这种反差源于当地对自动驾驶技术安全性的审慎态度。虽然亚马逊旗下的Zoox公司正进行间歇性测试，Waymo也获得了华盛顿州的测试许可，但两家企业均未在当地部署商业化运营。州议员们坦言，目前缺乏明确的商业化监管框架和安全认证标准，导致企业不敢贸然投入大规模测试。

西雅图市政府虽已筹备多年——三年前建立测试许可制度，去年与贝尔维尤市联合制定无人驾驶战略规划，今年还推出了全美首个紧急区域禁入系统——但受制于州级立法缺失和联邦层面监管萎缩（特朗普政府大幅削减自动化安全办公室预算），进展依然缓慢。

民众对无人驾驶的忧虑不容忽视：AAA调查显示61%的美国人对乘坐自动驾驶汽车感到恐惧。但支持方指出，该技术不仅能降低出行成本（目前西雅图网约车30分钟车费高达60美元），Waymo的研究数据更显示其事故率显著低于人类驾驶员，还能解决网约车行业长期存在的司机性侵等安全隐患。

面对多雨天气、狭窄隧道和起伏地形等挑战，专家认为西雅图的复杂路况曾是测试障碍，但随着技术快速迭代，这些限制正被逐步攻克。当亚利桑那等州积极拥抱自动驾驶商业化时，华盛顿州仍在安全与创新的天平上谨慎权衡。Waymo和Zoox虽已宣布向迈阿密、华盛顿特区和拉斯维加斯扩张业务，但西雅图居民何时能坐上机器人出租车，仍是未知数。

中文翻译：

当旧金山、洛杉矶、菲尼克斯、奥斯汀和亚特兰大的乘客已能搭乘无人驾驶出租车时，全美主要科技中心之一的西雅图市民却依然只能在路边苦等。该市交通部门发言人证实，亚马逊旗下的Zoox仅在进行"间歇性"自动驾驶测试；而获准在华盛顿州测试的Waymo也尚未在本州规划商业运营。

这种停滞状态与早期的技术热情形成鲜明反差。近十年前，谷歌就在西雅图地区启动自动驾驶测试，时任州长杰伊·英斯利曾宣称该技术将"促进经济增长、创造就业机会、提供研究机遇"，使华盛顿州成为"新技术创新的孵化地"。对于潜在的低价机器人出租车而言，这里本是极具吸引力的市场——《西雅图时报》数据显示，当地30分钟优步车程平均费用高达60美元，居全美大城市之首。但州立法者正因安全顾虑陷入纠结，迟迟未能建立推动自动驾驶落地的法规框架。

州众议员、自动驾驶立法牵头人雪莉·克洛巴强调："商业化必须经过严格测试，企业需通过安全案例框架证明车辆达到足够安全的标准，目前几乎没有公司满足要求。"但缺乏商业化路线图反而抑制了测试动力。华盛顿大学城市货运实验室主任凯利·鲁拉指出："缺乏明确的商业部署法规已阻碍企业在西雅图及华盛顿州投入测绘、测试和规模化建设，尤其在其他州更积极开放的对比下更显被动。"

2024年州工作组报告承认："当前法规既未明确部署路径，利益相关方也未能就具体实施方式达成共识。"尽管西雅图交通局已筹备多年：三年前建立测试许可制度；2023年与贝尔维尤市联合制定无人驾驶整合战略；今年更推出全美首个紧急区域禁入计划并发布保障公平与环保的监管建议，但该局发言人表示，在州级框架缺位的情况下，市政层面难以推动商业部署。

联邦层面同样存在监管真空：美国既无自动驾驶专门法律，国家公路交通安全管理局也只管车辆本身安全性而非运营方式。据《政客》杂志报道，负责监管的交通部自动化安全办公室因特朗普政府削减预算正急剧萎缩。克洛巴议员2020年推动通过关键法律后，现正继续推进要求测试车辆配备安全员、自动驾驶事故责任比照人工驾驶的立法。

公众对无人驾驶的忧虑持续高涨：美国汽车协会最新调查显示，61%受访者害怕乘坐自动驾驶汽车，仅13%表示信任。但潜在益处不容忽视：《纽约时报》指出，除降低出行成本外，自动驾驶有望解决网约车行业长期存在的司机性侵与行为不端等安全问题。Waymo去年发表在同行评审期刊的研究表明，其无人出租车在交叉路口及人车碰撞事故率远低于人类驾驶员。

不过克洛巴等人仍持怀疑态度："虽然自动驾驶理论上可能更安全，但独立行业专家会告诉我们技术尚未成熟。"西雅图多雨天气、狭窄隧道和起伏地形曾让自动驾驶汽车举步维艰，但随着技术进步，这些障碍正在消退。鲁拉表示："早期测试首选菲尼克斯等城市是受地理环境因素影响，但规模化应用正在快速改变现状。"

2009年始于谷歌自动驾驶项目的Waymo，计划明年将机器人出租车服务拓展至迈阿密、华盛顿特区和达拉斯；亚马逊Zoox则希望今年在拉斯维加斯启动公共运营，并已获得联邦机动车安全标准豁免——这是迈向商业化的重要一步。但对西雅图居民而言，无人驾驶出租车何时能载客仍属未知。尽管Waymo曾于2022年10月在贝尔维尤开展为期半年的五车测试（配备安全员的电动捷豹I-PACE），此后便再无进展。

Waymo发言人桑迪·卡普阐述了进入新市场的标准流程：先人工采集道路数据，再配备安全员测试，最后进行无乘客全自动驾驶测试。她表示："Waymo正在全球多地考察，虽然尚无具体计划，但我们非常期待未来能为华盛顿州居民提供服务。"

英文来源：

While taxi customers in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Austin and Atlanta can hail rides from driverless vehicles, passengers eager to do the same in Seattle — one of the nation’s leading technology hubs — are stuck at the curb.
Amazon-owned Zoox is “intermittently” conducting tests of its autonomous vehicles, according to a Seattle Department of Transportation spokesperson. And Waymo — though certified for testing in Washington — has no commercial operations planned for the state.
The contrast is stark given early enthusiasm for the technology. Nearly a decade ago, Google began testing self-driving cars in the Seattle area and then-Gov. Jay Inslee proclaimed autonomous vehicles would “promote economic growth, bring new jobs, provide research opportunities” and allow Washington to “serve as host to the emergence of new technologies and innovation.”
The region is an attractive market for potentially cheaper robotaxis. A 30-minute Uber ride in Seattle costs $60 on average — the highest price for larger U.S. cities, according to The Seattle Times. But state lawmakers are wrestling with concerns about the vehicles’ safety and aren’t racing to assemble a framework that gets self-driving cars on the road.
The route to commercial operations in the state “is through rigorous testing,” said Rep. Shelley Kloba, D-Kenmore, a lead lawmaker on autonomous vehicles in Washington.
“That is the pathway to deployment,” she continued. “In order to get the public to trust the vehicles [companies need to] show that you have a safety-case framework, that you have laid out criteria for how safe is safe enough, and you have met those criteria. And we don’t have very many companies doing that, if at all.”
However, the absence of a roadmap to commercialization can discourage that testing.
“The lack of a clear set of regulations/rules for commercial deployment is a clear deterrent for companies to invest in mapping, testing, and scaling priority” for Seattle and Washington, said Kelly Rula, director of the University of Washington’s Urban Freight Lab, via email. “Especially when considering that other states have opened this door more readily.”
A state workgroup acknowledged the uncertainty in a 2024 report, saying “Washington’s regulations do not currently define a clear path to deployment, nor do interested parties necessarily agree on what a clear path to deployment will entail.”
Seattle’s in-roads
Seattle’s Department of Transportation (SDOT) has spent years preparing for autonomous vehicles.

• It created a permitting program for vehicle testing three years ago.
• In 2023, Seattle and Bellevue jointly produced a strategic vision for integrating driverless vehicles into their cities.
• This year, Seattle announced a first-in-the-nation program to keep autonomous vehicles away from emergency zones, and it published stakeholder recommendations for ensuring equity and environmental protections in driverless car regulations.
  When asked if the city can or has encouraged the commercial deployment of autonomous vehicles, an SDOT spokesperson referenced the lack of a state-wide framework for taking action.
  Federal leadership on the issue is limited as well. There are no U.S. laws governing autonomous vehicle operations, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration only regulates the safety of the vehicles themselves, regardless of how they’re used. And the U.S. Transportation Department’s Office of Automation Safety, which helps regulate driverless vehicles, is shrinking dramatically due to Trump administration funding cuts, Politico reports.
  Kloba in 2020 sponsored a key law addressing driverless vehicles and is pursuing further legislation that requires a safety driver to be present on test drives and that holds autonomous “drivers” to the same standards as humans in a crash.
  Safety and perceptions
  Public worries about driverless vehicles remains high: 61% of U.S. respondents say they’re afraid to ride in autonomous vehicles, according to a recent AAA survey. Only 13% of those surveyed said they trust the vehicles.
  Yet there are potential benefits. Beyond potential cost savings for passengers, driverless taxis could address rider safety concerns that have plagued ride-hailing companies, as Uber has struggled with sexual assault and misconduct by drivers, the The New York Times reports.
  And a study last year by Waymo found that compared to human drivers, the company’s driverless taxis had dramatically lower crash rates in scenarios that included intersections and collisions with pedestrians, bikes and motorcycles. The research was published in a peer-reviewed journal.
  Kloba and others are skeptical. “There’s certainly great potential for autonomous vehicles to be safer” than human drivers she said, but added, “I think that the experts in the industry who do not work for the [autonomous vehicle] companies would tell you that we are not there yet.”
  Seattle’s challenging conditions — rainy weather, narrow tunnels and hilly terrain — once made it more daunting for robotaxis to navigate. But those hurdles are diminishing as the technology improves.
  “Land-use, street design, and weather have played an important role in testing selection to date,” Rula said, pointing to cities like Phoenix as better candidates in early testing. “But that is changing quickly now that scaling is rapidly occurring.”
  Waymo expands elsewhere
  Waymo, which began in 2009 as the Google Self-Driving Car Project, plans to expand its robotaxi service next year to Miami, Washington, D.C., and Dallas. Amazon’s Zoox hopes to begin offering public rides in Las Vegas this year and recently received a Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards exemption — a step toward commercial deployment.
  For Seattle-area riders, it’s unknown when a robotaxi will be available to shuttle them to their destination.
  In October 2022, Waymo launched a six-month test in Bellevue using five electric Jaguar I-PACE vehicles that operated autonomously with safety drivers, but nothing appears to have happened since then.
  Waymo spokesperson Sandy Karp spelled out the steps for entering a new market, starting with manual drives to collect local roadway information, testing that includes a safety driver, and then fully autonomous testing without passengers.
  “Waymo is exploring lots of new places around the world,” Karp said, via email. “I don’t have any details to share, but we would certainly love to serve residents of Washington in the future.”