Photo: Cruise
‘The company has yielded to the regulator’s demand to reduce the deployment of robotaxis.’
Cruise, the autonomous vehicle company, will be reducing the number of self-driving cars in operation in San Francisco temporarily. This decision comes as investigators look into recent incidents involving Cruise’s fleet. According to The New York Times and TechCrunch, the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has instructed Cruise to cut its fleet in half following a collision between one of its robotaxis and a fire truck at an intersection. The fire truck was responding to an emergency at the time, while the robotaxi had passengers on board who sustained non-life-threatening injuries. In another incident, a Cruise vehicle became stuck in wet concrete a few days prior.
The DMV has expressed its focus on ensuring the safe operation of autonomous vehicles and the safety of the public sharing the road with them. The agency has the authority to suspend or revoke testing and deployment permits if it determines that a company’s vehicles pose a threat to public safety. As part of the ongoing investigation, the DMV has requested Cruise to limit the number of driverless vehicles in operation to 50 during the daytime and 150 at night.
Cruise’s General Manager for San Francisco, Greg Dietrerich, provided an explanation of the collision on the company’s website. He stated that the robotaxi identified the emergency vehicle and its sirens as soon as they came into view. However, the autonomous vehicle faced challenges in predicting the fire truck’s path as it moved into the oncoming lane of traffic to bypass a red light. Despite the robotaxi’s attempt to reduce speed, it was unable to avoid the crash due to the prevailing conditions.
The DMV’s request to reduce the fleet size comes shortly after the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) approved Cruise and Waymo’s ability to charge fares for fully driverless rides at any time in San Francisco. This decision expands the companies’ previous limited offerings of fared rides without safety drivers on board between 10 PM and 6 AM. One commissioner dissented, arguing that the CPUC lacked sufficient information to accurately evaluate the impact of autonomous vehicles on first responders.