Problem robotaxis face: cleaning up customers' mess

New York

IT DIDN'T take long for Pritam Singh to learn a key lesson about working for Lyft. People are disgusting. They have a nasty habit of throwing up in moving vehicles.

Rideshare drivers are acutely aware that customers tend to do that, along with slightly less annoying things such as wiping hamburger-greasy fingers on armrests and turning floor mats into swamps of slush. Mr Singh, who ferries passengers for Lyft Inc in Manhattan several evenings a week, drops about US$200 a month cleaning - really, sometimes it feels like sanitising - his Toyota Camry.

For General Motors, Uber and others mulling a foray into robotaxis, the bill could be in the tens of millions…