Cruise’s self-driving taxis have been making their rounds in San Francisco without a driver for around two years – now the California transport authority is temporarily shutting down the service. The decision was preceded by two high-profile accidents.
At the end of August, one of the autonomous taxis drove through an intersection on a green light and hit a pedestrian who had stepped onto the street at two kilometers per hour. Attempts by the software to brake and evade were unsuccessful.
At the beginning of October, a woman had to be freed from one of the vehicles by rescue workers. She was hit by another car and thrown in front of the self-driving taxi. Despite immediate automatic braking, the collision with the pedestrian could not be prevented. The woman was dragged around six meters at around eleven kilometers per hour.
“If there is an unreasonable risk to public safety, the Department of Motor Vehicles may immediately suspend or revoke DMV permits,” the transportation agency said in its decision. Cruise operations can only be resumed “when the company has met the requirements to the satisfaction of the ministry.” What these are specifically was not stated.
“Our teams are currently conducting an analysis to identify possible improvements to the system’s response to these types of extremely rare events,” Cruise said after the ban. It is not yet clear when an application will be made to resume operations.
San Francisco is currently a test case for self-driving taxis. The General Motors subsidiary Cruise and 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. At its peak, up to 150 cruise taxis drove through the metropolis on the US West Coast.
Sources: State of California – Department of Motor Vehicles, Cruise, news agencies DPA and AFP
