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First responders in San Francisco have also complained that the autonomous vehicles have repeatedly interfered with emergency vehicles and caused other incidents, especially after the state approved a massive expansion of the cars in August. San Francisco's police and fire departments have also said the cars aren't yet ready for public roads. They've tallied more than 55 incidents where self-driving cars have gotten in the way of rescue operations. Those incidents include driving through yellow emergency tape, blocking firehouse driveways, running over fire hoses and refusing to move for first responders. Sacramento – The California Department of Motor Vehicles today issued a permit to Cruise LLC, authorizing the company to test driverless vehicles on public roads in San Francisco. Cruise has faced increasing pushback in its pioneering test environment of San Francisco, where locals have sabotaged driverless test vehicles from Cruise and competitor Waymo (funded by Google owner Alphabet).
California DMV suspends Cruise's self-driving car permits, effective immediately
California DMV orders Cruise's driverless cars off the road - NBC Bay Area
California DMV orders Cruise's driverless cars off the road.
Posted: Tue, 24 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
The California Department of Motor Vehicles on Tuesday suspended Cruise's permits for deploying driverless taxis across the state, effective immediately, citing an "unreasonable risk to public safety." Cruise is allowed to continue testing with safety drivers, but the order seems to prevent offering any public vehicle service for now. That also means it’s the sort of error that would not be readily discovered while they are in place. This won’t be the last time that pilot deployments of robocars reveal a problem of this sort. The good news is that as problems are found they are fixed for the entire fleet, a pattern where robots are much better than humans.
California DMV orders Cruise's driverless cars off the road
However, test vehicles have malfunctioned and been implicated in a series of traffic blockages and collisions, some of which have caused injuries or fatalities. The DMV said it provided Cruise with the steps needed to apply to reinstate its permits and noted the suspension will remain in place "until the company has fulfilled the requirements to the department’s satisfaction." Hours after the accident, Cruise also showed the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit video of the incident from cameras mounted atop the Cruise vehicle.
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In the incident being reviewed by the DMV, a human hit and run driver tragically struck and propelled the pedestrian into the path of the AV. The AV braked aggressively before impact and because it detected a collision, it attempted to pull over to avoid further safety issues. When the AV tried to pull over, it continued before coming to a final stop, pulling the pedestrian forward.
DMV documents reveal reasons behind suspension
Cruise said Tuesday that it was pausing operations and evaluating potential improvements, such as how it should handle events like an incident this month in which one of its cars drove over a pedestrian who had just been hit by a human driver. The DMV said that the suspension would take effect immediately and that it was acting to protect public safety. Cruise vehicles have been involved in a series of incidents that sparked criticism from elected officials and members of the public, especially in San Francisco. One day after the approval, as many as 10 of Cruise's driverless vehicles caused a traffic jam in San Francisco. On Aug. 18, just over a week after Cruise received approval for expanded service, the DMV requested Cruise "immediately reduce its active fleet of operating vehicles by 50%" until an investigation was completed, according to the DMV. It cited four regulations that allow suspension in the event "the Department determines the manufacturer's vehicles are not safe for the public's operation," and "the manufacturer has misrepresented any information related to safety of the autonomous technology of its vehicles."
U.S. to investigate fatal crash that may have involved Ford partially automated driving system
“The California DMV today notified Cruise that the department is suspending Cruise’s autonomous vehicle deployment and driverless testing permits, effective immediately,” the department said in an emailed statement. And while the idea of a fully autonomous ride-hailing service is still Waymo’s “north star and ultimate service model,” according to a spokesperson, the company will only remove safety drivers from its vehicles when it’s ready to do so. The California DMV said the decision to suspend the permits was made after the agency determined the vehicles were not safe for the public’s operation and that Cruise misrepresented information related to the autonomous vehicle technology in its vehicles. The department also said that the conduct of autonomous vehicle testing on public roads by Cruise presented an unreasonable risk to the public. While its autonomous operations are suspended, the DMV is allowing the company to continue to operate the cars with human safety drivers.
'Serious concerns' about driverless cars
General Motors' robotaxi service Cruise has been barred from testing driverless vehicles on public roads in California. The California Department of Motor Vehicles says Cruise withheld footage of one of its cars dragging away an injured pedestrian after they were knocked into its path during a hit-and-run. But while Cruise was approved to give rides in its fully driverless vehicles without safety drivers, Waymo only is allowed to deploy its autonomous vehicles with a human monitor behind the wheel. In order to give rides to paying passengers in its fully driverless vehicles, as it does in Arizona, the Google spinoff would need to apply for an additional permit from the California Public Utilities Commission. “The AV [autonomous vehicle] braked aggressively before impact and because it detected a collision, it attempted to pull over to avoid further safety issues,” Forghani said. “When the AV tried to pull over, it continued before coming to a final stop, pulling the pedestrian forward.
While the DMV is particularly upset by their belief that they were shown the partial story, that should get resolved, and the real issue is whether the vehicle is unsafe, unless some deliberate deception can be shown. However, if the DMV assertion is correct—and Cruise certainly never mentioned these elements to me in my discussions with them—Cruise has lost a great deal of credibility by not being front and center about this issue. Cruise states that this is incorrect, and they showed the entire video “multiple times” to the DMV. When I witnessed the video, I deliberately requested not to be shown the impact parts as they did not relate to my coverage of what took place before. Grace Toohey is a reporter at the Los Angeles Times covering breaking news for the Fast Break Desk.
Before joining the newsroom in 2022, she covered criminal justice issues at the Orlando Sentinel and the Advocate in Baton Rouge. Cruise was founded in San Francisco in 2013 as one of a generation of startups dedicated to making driverless technology a reality. Cruise said it will continue to cooperate with an investigation by the California DMV. The DMV’s announcement came during a previously-scheduled meeting of the San Francisco County Transportation Authority, where local fire officials among others testified before the local agency.
The decision comes after one of Cruise's autonomous vehicles was involved in a hit-and-run earlier this month. The California DMV said its vehicles "are not safe for the public's operation" and has accused the company of putting the safety of the public at risk by withholding certain information about the incident, which the company denies. Under state law established in 2012, the DMV is required to adopt regulations covering both the testing and public use of autonomous vehicles on California roadways. Regulations to allow testing with a safety driver behind the wheel took effect on Sept. 16, 2014.
“The DMV has provided Cruise with the steps needed to apply to reinstate its suspended permits, which the DMV will not approve until the company has fulfilled the requirements to the department’s satisfaction,” the agency states. The automaker’s chief technology officer Markus Schäfer expects that level 4 autonomous technology will be available to consumers by 2030, Automotive News reported. While humans are still expected to take control of the car based on the circumstances in level 3, level 4 technology is supposed to offer near-total autonomy. That means the technology must be able to safely respond to nearly all unexpected situations on the road. San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu praised the DMV's decision, saying it "vindicates the significant public safety concerns raised by the City." The city attorney urged the CPUC to come up with a "sensible, measured plan" for the vehicles. 13 CCR §227.42 (b)(5) - Any act or omission of the manufacturer or one of its agents, employees, contractors, or designees which the department finds makes the conduct of autonomous vehicle testing on public roads by the manufacturer an unreasonable risk to the public.
While human drivers do regularly hit and drag others on the road, they are less likely to do it because they are oblivious to it. Forghani said Cruise provided regulators a video of the incident and is complying with the DMV's order and "pausing operations." Those cars that have a human safety driver will be allowed to continue operating in the state. California has ordered the company Cruise to immediately stop operations of its driverless cars in the state. The Department of Motor Vehicles said on Tuesday that it was issuing the indefinite suspension because of safety issues with the vehicles. A string of incidents occurred within days of receiving the CPUC permit, including a collision between a Cruise robotaxi and an emergency vehicle that left a passenger injured. The DMV told Cruise it had to reduce its robotaxi fleet to 50% while the department investigated that incident.
“Ultimately, we develop and deploy autonomous vehicles in an effort to save lives,” Cruise said in an emailed statement. "When there is an unreasonable risk to public safety, the DMV can immediately suspend or revoke permits," the California DMV said in a statement. In response, the company reduced the number of vehicles it had deployed by half while the city investigated the incident. And on October 2nd, a hit-and-run in San Francisco launched a pedestrian in front of a driverless Cruise vehicle, trapping her underneath for some time. The sales mark a new echelon of autonomous driving available to the average American.
“You shouldn’t make policy decisions without knowing how the safety is going to turn out,” he said. A Cruise, which is a driverless robot taxi, is seen during operation in San Francisco, California, USA on July 24, 2023. Cruise has faced increasing scrutiny since the California Public Utilities Commission allowed the company and rival Waymo to expand testing of their robotaxis in San Francisco. "Our thoughts continue to be with the victim as we hope for a rapid and complete recovery. The DMV says it has given Cruise a series of steps it must complete "to the department's satisfaction" before the license to operate is renewed. "My hope is as a result of this they can improve safety measures because we want to welcome this technology, but we need to do so responsibly and safely," San Francisco Mayor London Breed said.
Rules to allow testing without a driver and deployment of autonomous vehicles were subsequently adopted and took effect on April 2, 2018. Regulations allowing for light-duty autonomous delivery vehicles weighing less than 10,001 pounds were approved on Dec. 16, 2019. Over 10 years ago, I outlined a situation very much like this, advising that a robotaxi should make special effort to assure it never obliviously drags a vulnerable road user.
Emergency crews instructed Cruise not to move the vehicle, and quite some time later lifted it off her to get her to hospital. The California DMV has ordered GM’s Cruise robotaxi unit to suspend autonomous vehicle operations declaring that Cruise’s vehicles are unsafe and that Cruise had misrepresented their safety level. Cruise said a Nissan Sentra in a lane next to one of its vehicles struck a pedestrian who entered a crosswalk against a red light.
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