Autonomous cars
USA: Driverless cruise robotaxis suspended
A self-driving car from the US company General Motors’ robotic car company Cruise is causing dissatisfaction among pedestrians after it got stuck at an intersection and left it when it turned red. photo
© Andrej Sokolow/dpa
There are several driverless taxi providers operating in San Francisco – against the wishes of many residents and the administration. After an accident, the permit is now gone for the time being.
The robotaxi company Cruise is not allowed to operate for the time being after two accidents involving pedestrians Send more cars onto the streets of San Francisco without people behind the wheel. The California Department of Transportation suspended the relevant permit indefinitely on Tuesday. The reason given was that the authorities believed the vehicles were not safe enough. Tests with safety drivers behind the wheel are not affected.
In an accident at the beginning of October, a woman got stuck under a Cruise robotaxi and had to be freed by rescue workers. According to the accident report, the pedestrian was initially hit by another vehicle with a human behind the wheel and thrown in front of the self-driving car. The self-driving car braked immediately – but was no longer able to prevent the collision. Cruise said on Tuesday that it was examining how the software for responding to such rare events could be improved.
The US traffic authority NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) recently initiated a preliminary investigation and referred to another incident. Accordingly, a cruise robotaxi drove to a traffic light intersection at the end of August with the green light on – and at the same time a pedestrian stepped in front of the vehicle. The software tried to evade and brake. However, the car still hit the pedestrian at a speed of around two kilometers per hour.
San Francisco is currently a unique test case for self-driving taxis. The General Motors subsidiary Cruise and the Google sister company Waymo are active in the city. They received permission from a California regulator over the summer to expand their driverless transportation services throughout the city. The city administration and numerous residents were against it. Among other things, they argued that the software-controlled vehicles often blocked traffic and thus hindered rescue workers during operations. The companies emphasize that robot cars drive safer than humans.
August Accident Report October Accident Report Notice from California Department of Transportation Response from Cruise