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After that incident, Cruise has been working to “rebuild public trust." Austin officials said residents complained about the cars not operating properly. The company’s suspension follows the launch of a federal investigation into incidents with pedestrians in San Francisco. A fleet of these self-driving cars has been giving rides to passengers in certain Austin neighborhoods these days. Cruise launched its hailing app in December after wrapping up testing. In a statement to KUT, Cruise said it "has consistently cooperated with each of NHTSA’s requests for information," whether cases warrant an investigation or not, and that it would continue to do so.
Austin residents voice concerns over self-driving cars, city's inability to regulate them - The Daily Texan
Austin residents voice concerns over self-driving cars, city's inability to regulate them.
Posted: Thu, 21 Sep 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Over a Dozen Robotaxis Cause Massive Traffic Jam in Austin
Failing that, the city could sue the commission, which is under the authority of Governor Gavin Newsom. As self-driving technology continues to evolve, striking the right balance between innovation and public safety remains a paramount challenge for companies like Cruise and the communities they serve. Cruise has also been the subject of a federal probe from the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration examining if the self-driving vehicles are using appropriate precautions around pedestrians. “Most of the folks reaching out to us were in downtown, UT,” he said. “Everything from ‘I was a pedestrian, cyclist or in a car myself and a Cruise car almost hit me,’ to ‘a Cruise car has stopped in the middle of an intersection,’ or ‘several cars have stopped.' There was a fear." Cruise cars that are being operated by humans will still be on the roads.
What have Cruise's operations looked like in Austin?
A video posted by a Reddit user vividly portrays the scene—a swarm of Cruise’s robotaxis creating a gridlock on a narrow Austin street. According to Cruise, the traffic debacle unfolded because their fleet found itself in an area with high demand and heavy pedestrian and passenger vehicle traffic. One of their autonomous vehicles got ensnared at an intersection during a turn, compounding the traffic chaos. Cruise said it was reevaluating its operations and trying to earn public trust after it became the subject of a federal investigation for multiple incidents involving pedestrians in San Francisco. The robotaxi dilemma is also shining a light on the divided way we regulate cars in the US. The federal government creates vehicle safety rules, leaving the states to license drivers, register vehicles, and enforce the rules of the road.
State of Texas: CHIPS Act brings billions for Texas …
Other reported incidents depict time-consuming responses to unusual situations. Cruise emphasized the decision to suspend AV operations "isn't related to any new on-road incidents." (1/3) The most important thing for us right now is to take steps to rebuild public trust.
Are there still self-driving vehicles in Austin?
Cruise added that the two incidents account for a sliver of the more than 5 million miles traveled by its driverless vehicles. Unfortunately, more and more Cruise robotaxis flooded the narrow Austin street to meet the peak demand, only to join in the traffic jam. Cruise states that at the time, there were limited routes going north and south through the city, and a detour from an alternative route led the EVs to the same doomed parkway. While we don’t agree with the tampering of robotaxis, it’s not unfair to say that the nascent technology has room for improvement, and some feel that urban municipalities should not be used as a testing ground. Regardless, companies like Cruise have come a long way, expanding beyond the Bay Area into new cities throughout California and outside of The Golden State in Austin, Texas.
At least four driverless car companies are testing vehicles in Austin. Cruise, which is mostly owned by General Motors, was the only one without humans behind the wheel, city staff said. Waymo, Volkswagen's ADMT and AV Ride have 25, 10 and 4 vehicles in Austin, respectively, all with test drivers. The actual cause of the jam remains unknown, though it's not uncommon for Cruise vehicles to become stuck and require human intervention—also known as a Vehicle Recovery Event. The individual who posted the photos and videos said they observed the Cruise workers trying to operate the cars via remote control to remediate the situation.
This isn't the first time that Cruise vehicles have drawn the ire of untrusting residents. Back in January, a driverless car was observed turning into a bike lane. And during another incident, cars were observed treating small residential neighborhoods as throughways. While legal, it caused an unnecessary nuisance to residents who told KXAN that they'd seen as many as 25 cars in a 20-minute span. Robotaxis haven't enjoyed the best public image over the past year. From unmanned traffic jams to protestors condoning straight-up vandalism against cars, both Cruise and Waymo have had a rough start in San Francisco.
The sight of a robot traffic jam was unfortunately all too familiar in San Francisco. For months, city officials have complained about blocked roads, obstructed emergency response vehicles, and other bizarre behavior by these driverless cars. A Waymo vehicle ran over and killed a small dog — inspiring a street painting memorializing the martyred canine. And as more vehicles are deployed and the companies begin commercializing the service, more obstructions are to be expected. The companies could do themselves a big favor by doing more outreach. Obstructing emergency vehicles, in particular, is unlikely to help win over the hearts and minds of the residents you’re hoping will become new customers, let alone not piss off the populace you’re trying to serve.
So much so that the officials who granted them seemingly unfettered access to the city have reined in the driverless cars to avoid further public outcry, at least for the time being. There was plenty of support, too — people who were disabled or distrustful of human drivers or didn’t want to appear to be burying their heads in the sand when new technology becomes available. After all, disruption and inconvenience tend to go hand in hand, said Raj Rajkumar, a robotics professor at Carnegie Mellon University. Think of the advent of indoor plumbing or the installation of natural gas lines or building roads and highways. AUSTIN (KXAN) — On a busy Saturday night near the University of Texas at Austin campus, a UT student caught a unique traffic jam on camera — at least 20 Cruise driverless cars at San Gabriel and 23rd streets.
On other occasions, firefighters wrote, Cruise employees struggled to move their own disabled vehicles out of the way of traffic. Cruise said the incident occurred when a car, driven by a human, collided with a pedestrian crossing a street against a red light. The pedestrian was then launched in front of an autonomous Cruise vehicle which braked but still collided with the pedestrian, and then pulled over after stopping, dragging the pedestrian forward about 20 feet. Cruise, which is a subsidiary of General Motors, has had an Austin presence since September 2022. In December 2022 it began offering driverless ride-hailing services in certain areas of downtown, Central and East Austin between 9 p.m.
Opponents are not likely to take these major changes lying down. In the weeks leading up to the CPUC vote, several videos went viral of people placing orange cones on the hoods of the vehicles, effectively disabling them. They called it the “Week of Cone,” and it was meant to demonstrate how easy it was to confuse these supposedly high-tech vehicles.
Self-driving cars cause humungous traffic jam as none of them move - UNILAD
Self-driving cars cause humungous traffic jam as none of them move.
Posted: Wed, 20 Sep 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
This is not the first time that Cruise vehicles have caused a traffic jam like this. Last month, approximately 10 vehicles locked traffic on Vallejo Street in San Francisco. The most famous incident of Cruise vehicles randomly gathered together occurred in July last year when over a dozen prototypes stopped near an intersection, also in San Francisco. Cruise began testing the cars in San Francisco in 2020 and is now offering a ride-hailing service there.
Waymo has its sights set on Los Angeles and New York City, while Cruise is testing its vehicles in Miami and Austin, Texas. The companies are under enormous pressure to turn on the money spigots after their parent companies have invested tens of billions of dollars for more than a decade with very little money flowing back into their coffers. Austin's mayor pro tem, Paige Ellis, called the issue a matter of "public trust."
The decision came two days after the California Department of Motor Vehicles declared Cruise's vehicles unsafe and yanked the the company's driverless testing permits. California also prevents cities from regulating self-driving cars. The company said it was suspending self-driving car operations nationwide to "reflect on how we can better operate in a way that will earn public trust." Those who witnessed the traffic jam in Austin report that various Cruise workers attempted to clear the road by operating the vehicles remotely. A spokesperson told The Drive that the issue may have been caused by heavy foot and vehicle traffic.
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