techcrunch-mobility-stunning-lack-transparency-20260406
coverStrategy: "brave" coverQuery: "urban mobility" title: "TechCrunch Mobility: 'A stunning lack of transparency'" date: "2026-04-06" excerpt: "Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. To get this in your inbox, sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility ! You might recall the congressional hearing last month that sparked criticism against Waymo over its use of" tags: ["Automotive"] source: "https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/05/techcrunch-mobility-a-stunning-lack-of-transparency/" author: "SiliconFeed Editorial Team"
faqData:
- q: "What is the transparency issue with mobility tech?" a: "TechCrunch highlighted a stunning lack of transparency in the mobility technology sector, where companies often fail to disclose critical safety data, operational metrics, and performance statistics to the public."
- q: "Why does mobility tech transparency matter?" a: "Transparency in mobility technology is crucial for public safety, regulatory oversight, and informed consumer choice. Without it, communities cannot properly assess the risks and benefits of new transportation systems."
- q: "Which mobility companies face transparency criticism?" a: "Several autonomous vehicle and micromobility companies have faced criticism for limited data sharing, particularly around safety incidents, operational reliability, and environmental impact."
The Lead
TechCrunch Mobility: 'A stunning lack of transparency'. Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. To get this in your inbox, sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility ! You might recall the congressional hearing last month that sparked criticism against Waymo over its use of remote assistance workers in the Philippines. We have covered that issue extensively. You can read about the company's remote assistance and road assistance teams here and here .
Key Details
Waymo tends to get the most attention because, well, those robotaxis are now operating commercially in 10 U.S. cities, with more coming soon. But the issue of remote assistance is not a Waymo issue. It's an autonomous vehicle technology issue. Markey sent letters to seven U.S. companies — Aurora , May Mobility , Motional , Nuro , Tesla , Waymo , and Zoox — working on autonomous vehicle technology with a list of questions. He wanted to know how often.
Context
They all refused to say , according to the results of Markey's investigation. Markey said it was a "stunning lack of transparency from the AV companies around their use of remote assistance operators to help guide their AVs." You can read senior reporter Sean O'Kane's article , which digs into the issue and includes the rather mute responses from the companies. (TechCrunch reached out to all of them.) One interesting admission from Tesla: The company said its remote assistance workers.
What's Next
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