>> building a better bay area. moving forward. finding solutions. this is abc7 news. ♪ kristen: hi there. i'm kristen sze. you are watching "getting answers" on abc7. every day, we talk with experts about issues important to the bay area and we get answers for you in real time. today, maui vets save pets. they estimate some 3000 animals are still missing. we hear from a bay area animal shelter helping in the effort by giving some of the animals an aloha welcome and your chance to adopt a pet. hurricane hillary, a powerful category four hurricane barreling towards california, but thankfully losing some steam. we will talk with the national hurricane center scientists about what it means. more questions are being raised today over robo taxis and their

readiness to hit the streets of san francisco. this after the latest incident involving one of the autonomous vehicles. we showed you some video of last night. a driverless cruise car and a fire truck collided at the intersection of turk and polk. cruise had the green light but was hit by the emergency vehicle on the way to the scene. a passenger was in the car but was not injured. san francisco officials are calling on california regulators to pump the brakes, citing safety issues. joining us a to discuss the technology behind robo taxis and their management is scott maura, thank you so much for your time today. at p intelligent transportation systems. do you think these robo carsinth stage to begin operating widespread? >> well, there is certainly

much work that needs to be done. the way that i really see it is, there is an incredible amount of technology that is being developed and tested, and in fact, some of the fundamental ideas can be used not just for driving, but even, how do we use artificial intelligence to assist with for example processing images for medical applications? but the truth is, we are now dealing with human lives. these are moving objects that can be several tons that are going to our cities. so it's exciting to see technology moving forward, but the truth is, we need to be very thoughtful of how we might use our cities as living laboratories. so we are seeing some of the potential negative consequences or stresses that can occur. kristen: i definitely want to dive into the work that you do. you guys have your own autonomous vehicles. you have a lab there

essentially. the city streets are the lab n ow, you are right. any theories on why and how it happened and who is to blame? is it something in the coding? what is it? >> so, we can talk about this case specifically what had something to do with a fire truck that was sort of urgent situation and the vehicle was not able to detect the siren and respond perhaps. but i think actually part of the fundamental issue is that not all the technology i think really should stay within a vehicle -- within the vehicles themselves. city and infrastructure can play a big role. that's where i think path is really trying to innovate in -- and where we actually need a lot of help.

if we had connected infrastructure that could send signals to any vehicles, and indicate, there's a fire truck coming down three blocks away, take some sort of action, that would really help a lot. but right now we have this situation where private industries control the vehicles. we have cities operating the infrastructure. meanwhile, the public utilities commission is trying to regulate everything. kristen: -- >> so this is where we really could use a lot of help and innovation to make our cities safer. kristen: i see what you are saying. you are saying right now those cars are only talking to each other, but really they should be talking to every other vehicle out there. perhaps not even just vehicles. you are talking about lights and all sorts of things. i see what you mean about the coordination. but how do you get there from where we are at no? how do you scaffold that? >> it's really the key question

you ask, how do we scaffold that? that requires public/private partnerships. and it requires investment on both sides. that's really what it takes. that's what we need more of. to make these cities motor so it's not just robo taxis -- cities smarter. so it's not just robo taxis, but smart cities. the infrastructure as well. kristen: i want to look at the way they are talking to each other right now within the network, what they can do. there was an incident in long beach where cruise vehicles all came to a stop, blocking traffic, due to one car initially that was stopped and they had to wait 15 minutes for a system reboot/reset. why does it have to take that long? good things like that keep happening as we proceed in this brave new world? >> it potentially could. it is an issue that is very

much being studied by our research center along with other groups. part of the problem is tele-operation. can an operator basically remotely take over control of the car and move it out of a particular situation? but that is very difficult. let's say the vehicles are trying to move out of this blog scenario but then a pedestrian walks by. can the signals and the information that goes back and forth happen fast enough that they can avoid a safety event? this really needs to be worked out. there's a question of, how much of this to we allowed to happen on our public roads, which are being used as living labs? how much do we sorted out before -- sort it out before they go

out on public roads? dmc and -- s and ca -- dmv on california are tried to figure it out as the technologies are being deployed. kristen: they are trying to figure it out. but they are starting to charge fares, charge riders. the city attorney of san francisco is asking for a hold on that. looking at what you see and the readiness of it, with the technology, do you think they should put a pause on it? pump the brakes? temporarily revoke that? >> i think we ne flexible. we really need a close partnership between public and private, is really the key answer. it would be great to have a lot of transparency and information between the

public and private companies, cities and the public utilities commission of what is made safe. there are of course options, where we could provide more limited environments where they operate. that is what they were doing before they were able to have commercial operations in the late night/early morning hours. i think we are going to iterate back and forth to try to figure out what we need to do to ensure safety. yet enable moving forward the technology. really the key is in the details. kristen: you're looking at video shot from our colleague, who went on several rides. she had a little challenge getting to her ultimate destination. the robo cars could not find the exact spot. for those who are hesitant about this technology,

some of the accidents that have happened or the stalls, what do you tell them when they say, why are we doing this? why do you think it's worth the investment, the urgency, and continuing to press forward? why is this important as our region moves forward? >> that's a great question. the key point we need to them here at the university of california berkeley. i have my perspective. it's clearly this. it is all about safety. none of this makes sense unless we can ensure that these vehicles ultimately -- mobility in general is safer than what we have with human driven cars. that really is the societal goal here. there are other secondary goals. if we have automated vehicles, we can enable mobility for those that are unable. the elderly, too young, the disabled. there is an equity angle to it that could potentially be realized. also, when you remove the

driver's right foot from the pedal, you can do a lot to make sure they don't burn as much electrons or hydrocarbon molecules. so those really are the benefits. none of this makes sense unless we can realize those benefits. we are on the trajectory to get there. we are somewhere in the middle of the trajectory. kristen: it does make sense to me. i have to say, i went the berkeley. go bears. i am as well. thank you so much for breaking that down for us. super fascinating stuff. appreciate it. we are going to shift that was a fascinating conversation on new technology. we are going to track herrick and hillary next. that is a weather first -- hurricane hillary next. that is a weather first for california. next, we will talk about

kristen: right now hurricane hilary is a powerful category four but maximum sustained winds have decreased a bit to 130 mph. the center is southwest of cabo san lucas. it is expected to hit california as a tropical storm, unleashing a massive amount of rain and potential flooding on southern california and the southwestern u.s. preparations are underway. the storm is expected to hit sunday, into early next week. triggering the first ever tropical storm watch for california, including los angeles. joining us live is the deputy director of the national hurricane center. things for your time. -- thanks for your time.

we looked at where it is right now and current stats. where is the tropical storm watch in southern california? how big is the range? >> it's been expanded this afternoon. it now covers a good portion of southern california. including los angeles, san diego, and palm springs. kristen: we talked a little bit about how much rain there might be. give us some definite figures -- as definite as you can be. just how devastating that would be in communities not designed to handle so much rain. >> the rain is going to be the top line story. it's the biggest component. the wind component -- the novelty of a rare event like this is interesting. if you really think, heavy rain, that will be the best thing you can do to prepare for this storm. we are looking at wide swaths of

3-6 inches of rain with some areas enhanced by topography possibly having 10 inches of rainfall -- that's just a lot of rain for this portion of the country which normally doesn't receive this much rain. more importantly the rainfall rates. they are much greater or faster in a tropical system like this then what you are used to seeing in a typical renee pattern during the winter season for example like a cold front passing through. so confidence has really grown throughout the day that we are going to receive this rainfall and we now think the potential exists for catastrophic flooding over portions of southern california. kristen: i think i read the last time i hurricane hit california was 1939. i know hillary's not expected to hit as a hurricane. just historically, why is this so rare? >> storms approaching socal

are not unusual. you've had systems even as recently as last year approached the area. but what they usually do is wind speeds weaken before they make it into southern california, with the cold water that exists off the coast. they really need water near 80° fahrenheit or higher to sustain their strength. typically what happens is, you will receive the moisture from these systems, but not the wind. in this case, the moisture and rainfall potential is going to be greater than what you are used to seeing in past tropical events. you are going to have the wind come with it. this tropical -- the tropical gusts at higher elevations are going to be a real problem. the rainfall and the flooding is going to be a real newsmaker. kristen: was giving the storm so much energy? i read the ocean temperatures in the pacific are normally

cooler. it is warmer this summer. is this tied to global warming? >> global warming often contributes to worsening of severe weather. but you can't say that hillary itself is a result of it. we will have to look at that after the fact to figure out how much of hillary was caused by climate change. the take-home message today is everyone listening to this interview probably is under some form of threat from this system, likely heavy rain and flood potential, and those rains could start in the area as soon as tomorrow, and during preparation activities -- hindering preparation activities. it is time to start altering weaken plans and doing what you need to do to protect your home and family. kristen: we are farther north here obviously. what might it look like by the time he gets here, the remnants? >> the bay area is going to be more on the edge of this.

the primary impacts will be to yourself and used. a number of your residents and listeners probably are thinking about driving to different places that maybe influenced -- may be influenced by this, around the impact area. if you've got plans to go into southern california, especially los angeles, san diego, it's probably not going to be a good weekend. kristen: thank you for that. in terms of the folks in palm springs or la, if we to get more events like this, how can they prepare? what do we need to do in terms of changes in in infrastructure to handle potentially stronger storms more frequently? >> the infrastructure is not my area of expertise. some of the things that we think might happen is heavier rain events like this

either being more impactful or occurring more often. that's just one of the things we will have to work through to prepare for these more impactful weather events. kristen: really appreciate your information today. helping people stay safe. tonight, some precious cargo will arrive in the east bay direct from maui as part of an effort to help pet victims of the wildfires. up next, we will talk about how they are helping animals loss in the firestorm and there may be a cuddly new pet in it for

kristen: now to the latest from maui where the death toll stands at 111 with nearly 60% of the burn area now searched. one volunteer effort tells abc news 950 people are still listed as not located. also not located, about 3000

animals according to the maui humane society. amid the tragedy, one bay area animal shelter is trying to help. joining us live is the spokesperson for the murder and humane society to tell us about a special arrival tonight. -- marin humane society to tell us about a special arrival tonight. some special animals from maui. tell us about this. >> absolutely. some very special guests. a flight is coming in carrying over 100 animals to the bay area. and various shelters will be descending on the airport to greet our special guests and bringing them back to our individual shelters to be adopted out. these were animals that were already awaiting adoption in maui and we are helping the shelter by clearing space so they can take care of the pets of those who have been displaced from their homes. kristen: so these pets are not anybody's missing pets. >> that's right.

we would never want to take missing pets off the island or out of the area. these are animals that were already waiting for forever homes. we are just going to help but by doing this. we are really excited to receive them. we've got their pictures and their names. most of them have already been spayed and neutered but we will give them a quick time to decompress and we will make sure that they are ready to go. we are donating all the adoption fees of the maui animals back to maui humane society. they are going to have a really long road ahead of them. here of course in california, we know how that is with wildfires and the effects of animals in our pets. we want to continue to help maui. kristen: that is amazing what you are doing. also these animals, they were not from the burn area so no burn injuries on them either. >> no burn injuries. the animals who are injured, they will be cared for on maui. these are just animals who were already looking for home and they will have a chance to do it now in the bay area.

we are really excited we could say yes because people on the bay area are such great animal lovers and supporters. if you can adopt, great, if you can't,, may consider fostering another animal or donating to one of your favorite bay area shelters. kristen: are they all dogs or different types of animals? >> there's dogs, cats, puppies and kittens. we are getting dogs, kittens, and some puppies. there's about five different shelters they will be going to. we know other animals are going to be flown to portland, different places on the west coast and have a little bit more room. it is still a big stretch for a lot of shelters here but we are willing to do it. we help each other and crises. -- in crises. we are looking forward to finding these homes. our shelter is not that fancy but we are hoping to give a lot of love and care to our new hawaiian guests.

kristen: did you already put up the welcome signs and the leis? aww. >> we are excited. our team here is really excited. we will be at the airport late, getting these dogs settled late tonight, working hard over the weekend, but we love it and we know that other shelters have done it for us and as we reported -- you reported, the devastation is heart breaking on maui. anything we can do makes a difference. kristen: those are actual dogs and cats coming our way here, right? >> yes. they sent us pictures. interestingly, all the way up until this morning, those dogs were still available for adoption in hawaii. we even got a couple of emails saying, you are not going to get this one because she just found a forever home. which is great. that's what we are all about. these dogs will be available in the coming days, and some kittens.

a few of them are not spayed or neutered so we want to make sure we get that done. if people can't adopt right now, anytime they can foster, especially by dogs, that really helps us always alleviate the space and the crowding at the shelter. it gives animals a break from the shelter. adopt, foster, donate, anything you can do. kristen: how much is the adoption fee by the way? at your shelter anyway? >> it depends. it is $150 for kittens. may be hundred dollars for kittens -- $200 for kittens. could be up to $250, it goes back to pay for everything we've done to care for the animal but of course in this case we are donating it back to maui humane society. kristen: did maui reach out to you for this or did you reach out to them? >> we reached out initially, our ceo has great ties with a lot of other animal shelters but when you -- but we

midst of crisis, we are here when we are ready. our network of animal shelters was able to put together this special flight. along with a group called greater good, which has donated all of the time and energy to make this happen on the ground in maui. an airline donated the southwest airlines donated the plane and the time. a lot of people have been super generous. kristen: thank you so much. best of luck. you can check out those cuties in a few days. we appreciate your time. it will take a short break --

kristen: thank you so much for joining