Cruise taking steps to get its robotaxis back on streets
Six months after a Cruise robotaxi dragged a San Francisco pedestrian and pinned her under the vehicle, officials for the autonomous vehicle company on Tuesday announced the beginning of what they hope is their return to driverless operations.
The California Department of Motor Vehicles suspended Cruise from operating its driverless taxis in San Francisco about three weeks after the Oct. 3 crash, alleging that the company withheld footage of the incident. During the same week of the DMV suspension, Cruise announced it was suspending driverless operations in all markets.
In a blog post Tuesday, Cruise officials said that they will resume manual driving operations, starting in Phoenix, “to create maps and gather road information in select cities.” It’s unclear when or if manual operations would eventually expand to other cities the company previously operated in, including San Francisco.
The company said it intends to collect traffic data such as speed limits, stop signs, traffic lines, lane paint and right-turnonly lanes in order to help its robotaxis understand location and road features. Once that’s complete, the company said it will begin supervised autonomous operations on public roads.
The General Motorsowned company previously offered rides in San Francisco, Austin, Phoenix and Houston.
In Tuesday’s announcement, officials said they had been in communication with “officials, first responders and community leaders in cities we’ve previously operated in to share updates on our path forward.”
In November, amid the backlash stemming from the San Francisco crash, Cruise CEO and cofounder Kyle Vogt announced he was resigning. A day later, co-founder and Chief Product Officer Dan Kan resigned as well.
On Tuesday, the company said it has hired a new chief safety officer, strengthened internal safety processes and established a new workflow for how it will engage with regulators when reporting traffic incidents. Officials also said the company is updating crisis management protocols and facilitating training with first responders and fire departments “in the areas we intend to operate in.”
The announcement comes as the company reels from the fallout of the Oct. 3 accident in San Francisco, where a woman was struck by a hitand-run car and flung into the path of the Cruise vehicle, which then ran her over.
San Francisco firefighters rushed to the scene after the collision and used a hydraulic rescue tool to lift the car off her. The woman was taken to a hospital in critical condition. The status of her recovery is unknown.
Now the company pledges it is focused on improving safety and performance.
“We believe AVs will save lives and significantly reduce the number and severity of accidents on America’s and Arizona’s roads every year,” the company said in a statement. “AVs will also improve lives — including creating convenient and safe transportation options for the elderly and those with disabilities. As we begin this journey, we look forward to partnering with local communities to jointly achieve our shared mission of making transportation safer for all.”