In an aerial view, Chevrolet Cruise autonomous automobiles sit parked in a staging space on June 08, 2023 in San Francisco, California. Autonomous car firms Cruise and Waymo have been testing their automobiles all through San Francisco and residents aren’t pleased with the issues that the automobiles are bringing to town.
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Cruise will scale back its robotaxi fleet by 50% in San Francisco, the California Department of Motor Vehicles advised CNBC.
The transfer comes after Cruise autonomous automobiles had been concerned in a number of crashes in San Francisco this week the place the self-driving automobiles appeared to stall in intersections, together with one on Thursday night time when it collided with a fireplace truck.
The discount is a setback for Cruise, a General Motors subsidiary, which began providing a paid robotaxi service in San Francisco after it and Alphabet’s Waymo obtained permission to increase driverless operations and carry paying passengers 24 hours a day throughout San Francisco. Cruise is presently working with a waitlist.
It additionally highlights the rising debate in San Francisco over driverless automobiles. Opponents say they’re harmful and intervene with firefighters and different first responders, whereas defenders say they’re revolutionary and can make getting across the metropolis cheaper and simpler.
“The DMV is investigating recent concerning incidents involving Cruise vehicles in San Francisco,” a DMV spokesperson stated in an announcement. “The DMV is in contact with Cruise and law enforcement officials to determine the facts and requested Cruise to immediately reduce its active fleet of operating vehicles by 50% until the investigation is complete and Cruise takes appropriate corrective actions to improve road safety.”
The DMV stated Cruise has agreed to the discount and could have not more than 50 of its autonomous automobiles working through the day and not more than 150 working through the night. Cruise stated in August it was working 300 automobiles through the night time and 100 through the day.
A spokesperson for Cruise was not instantly accessible for remark exterior of business hours.
In a weblog submit on Friday night time, Cruises’ San Francisco normal supervisor Greg Dietrerich wrote that the accident with a Cruise car and firetruck on Thursday had “several factors” that contributed to the incident, together with buildings on the intersection which are tough to see round. He additionally stated the firetruck was driving within the flawed lane to “bypass” a pink mild.
“We will continue to work in partnership with regulators and city departments on EMV interactions to reduce the likelihood of incidents like these happening again,” Dietrerich wrote.
Cruise’s fleet was concerned in a number of incidents over the previous week that drew media consideration. In addition to the crash with a firetruck, one Cruise car reportedly received caught in concrete, and an autonomous car with a passenger received hit by a driver. The different driver in that incident was working a pink mild, in keeping with Cruise. Last weekend, a slew of Cruise automobiles stalled and slowed visitors exterior an outside music competition.
— CNBC’s Lora Kolodny contributed to this story.
Source: www.cnbc.com