On Tuesday night, in the United States of America, several autonomous Cruise robotaxis disrupted traffic in San Francisco, California after they abruptly stopped operating.

The incident’s specifics were discussed on Reddit (and picked up by TechCrunch) and serve as an example of how driverless cars are still in the early stages of development in practical applications.

Although Cruise, a company supported by GM and Honda, has been testing its technology in San Francisco since February, it didn’t begin offering a paid robotaxi service until last week. The vehicles operate with some limitations, but have no human safety driver at all. When the weather is good, they only provide rides on ‘certain streets’ between the hours of 10 PM and 6 AM, and they are only permitted to go at a speed of 30 mph.

At least five vehicles are seen halted on the street in photos of the driverless roadblock. According to the Redditor who posted the images, the incident happened about midnight.

In response to TechCrunch, a representative for Cruise acknowledged the incident but made no mention of why it occurred or whether it would happen again in the future.

The spokesman explained, “We encountered a problem earlier this week that caused several of our trucks to cluster. While it was resolved and no passengers were impacted, we apologize to anyone who was inconvenienced.”

This incident involving Cruise’s driverless technology is not the first. A police officer attempted to stop a Cruise robotaxi earlier this year, ostensibly because the vehicle’s headlights were out at night. Later, Cruise claimed “human error” was to blame for the tragedy. 

Redditor seansinha who shared the pictures said, “The first thing I tell my coworker is that they’re planning to kill us. It was a very bizarre occurrence. The cars had to be removed by hand by arriving humans. For so long obstructing the street, Cruise ought to be fined to shit. They even made it, so the street sweeper couldn’t hit an entire block.”

He also mentioned that the Cruise employees showed up to the incident “in twenty minutes” but were unsuccessful in actually moving the cars in good time.

Recently, China’s Pony.ai also announced its plans to begin commercial driverless robotaxi service in San Fransisco. It remains to be seen if this incident will impact its launch. 

RELATED

• China’s Pony.ai plans to begin commercial driverless robotaxi service in California in 2022
• https://www.gizmochina.com/2021/07/06/autox-gen5-fully-driverless-system-robo-taxis/
• https://www.gizmochina.com/2022/04/29/baidu-pony-ai-china-first-commercial-driverless-robotaxi-permits/

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