Cruise will quickly be deploying fewer autonomous autos in San Francisco whereas investigators are trying into «latest regarding incidents» involving its fleet. In keeping with The New York Times and TechCrunch, the California Division of Motor Autos requested the corporate to chop its fleet in half after an incident whereby considered one of Cruise’s robotaxis collided with a fireplace truck at an intersection. The hearth truck had its sirens and crimson lights on and was responding to an emergency on the time, whereas the robotaxi has passengers onboard who sustained non-life-threatening accidents. In one other, maybe much less controversial, incident a couple of days earlier than that, a Cruise automobile got stuck in wet concrete.
The DMV stated in a press release that its major focus is «the secure operation of autonomous autos and security of the general public who share the highway with these autos.» It additionally added that it «reserves the suitable, following investigation of the info, to droop or revoke testing and/or deployment permits» if it determines that an organization’s autos is a menace to public security. The company has requested Cruise to restrict its driverless autos in operation to 50 throughout daytime and 150 at evening, at the least till the investigation is completed.
In an explanation in regards to the collision posted on the corporate’s web site, Cruise’s Common Supervisor for San Francisco, Greg Dietrerich, stated the robotaxi recognized the emergency automobile as quickly because it got here into view. It was additionally in a position to distinguish the hearth truck’s sirens «as quickly because it was distinguishable from the background noise.» Nonetheless, it wasn’t doable to see autos coming from across the nook «till they’re bodily very near the intersection» the place the incident occurred. Additional, the autonomous automobile had hassle predicting the hearth truck’s path, as a result of it moved into the «oncoming lane of site visitors» to bypass a crimson gentle. Dietrerich stated Cruise’s AV recognized the chance of a collision and hit the brake to cut back its velocity, but it surely wasn’t in a position to keep away from the crash fully as a result of these circumstances.
The DMV’s request comes just some days after the California Public Utilities Fee (CPUC) voted in favor of permitting each Cruise and Waymo to cost fares for absolutely driverless rides any time of the day in San Francisco. Earlier than that, Cruise might solely provide fared rides with no security driver onboard in restricted areas of the town between 10PM and 6AM. The one commissioner who voted in opposition to the businesses’ paid trip enlargement argued that the CPUC did not have sufficient data to precisely consider the affect of autonomous autos on first responders.
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