California DMV is investigating a Cruise robotaxi's collision with a fireplace truck

Cruise will quickly be deploying fewer autonomous autos in San Francisco whereas investigators are wanting into “latest regarding incidents” involving its fleet. In response to The New York Occasions and TechCrunch, the California Division of Motor Automobiles requested the corporate to chop its fleet in half after an incident whereby one in every of Cruise’s robotaxis collided with a fireplace truck at an intersection. The fireplace truck had its sirens and pink 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 car received caught in moist concrete. 

The DMV stated in an announcement that its major focus is “the protected operation of autonomous autos and security of the general public who share the street with these autos.” It additionally added that it “reserves the best, following investigation of the information, 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 night time, no less than till the investigation is finished. 

In a proof in regards to the collision posted on the corporate’s web site, Cruise’s Basic Supervisor for San Francisco, Greg Dietrerich, stated the robotaxi recognized the emergency car 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 potential to see autos coming from across the nook “till they’re bodily very near the intersection” the place the incident occurred. Additional, the autonomous car had hassle predicting the hearth truck’s path, as a result of it moved into the “oncoming lane of site visitors” to bypass a pink gentle. Dietrerich stated Cruise’s AV recognized the danger of a collision and hit the brake to cut back its pace, nevertheless it wasn’t in a position to keep away from the crash utterly as a result of these situations. 

The DMV’s request comes only a few 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 supply fared rides with no security driver onboard in restricted areas of town between 10PM and 6AM. The one commissioner who voted in opposition to the businesses’ paid journey enlargement argued that the CPUC did not have sufficient info to precisely consider the influence of autonomous autos on first responders.

This text initially appeared on Engadget at

Supply: Engadget