Want to test your new business tech idea on the streets? The Bay Area authorities say, ‘Get a permit.’ Tired of seeing San Francisco’s streets being converted into a testing ground for businesses’ newly launched tech ideas, the city leaders have now made it compulsory for getting permits before they test their new theory on streets.
The tech industry has always showered San Francisco with the highest paying tech jobs, but the city authorities say that getting due permission for testing out new tech ideas on the street was long overdue. This unanimous decision from the Legislation was long owed after hundreds of dockless electric scooters were found dumped in the trash can overnight last year.
Norman Yee, President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, commented that though he is a fan of innovative technology, the citizens of the Bay Area aren’t guinea pigs, and the city’s infrastructure is not ‘free for all.’
With this new rule, companies will not be allowed to experiment with their tech products in public space unless the office declares the tech in question a ‘net public good.’
The authorities hereon have argued that such public testing can be detrimental to the citizen’s health and safety, and anyone with coding skills should not be treating the streets as the ‘Wild West.’ The Silicon Valley Leadership Group immediately objected to the permit, stating that it will stifle innovation and burden business.
It is still unclear as to how the proposals submitted for the permit will be evaluated. Yet, as of now, companies will have to share specific data with the authorities with certain guidelines.
