Self-driving car company forced to reduce robot taxi fleet after collision

Cruise taxis have been involved in several incidents, including a car stuck in wet concrete last week. Credit: Anadolu Agency/Anadolu

Dozens of self-driving vehicles were taken off the roads in San Francisco after a robot taxi crashed into a firetruck last week.

Cruise, a General Motors subsidiary that self-driving cars, was ordered to reduce the size of its self-driving car fleet in the city by half after the collision.

The company had about 100 vehicles operating during the day and 300 at night when traffic is less, so 50 and 150 vehicles respectively will be cut.

The order to reduce operations follows a collision between a cruise taxi and a fire truck. which had sirens last Thursday.

Greg Dietrich, general manager of San Francisco Cruise, said the fire truck was driving on the opposite side of the road and the self-driving vehicle was unable to stop in time as soon as it found the vehicle.

He said: «The ability of the AV [autonomous vehicle] to successfully route the emergency vehicle was hampered by the fact that the emergency vehicle was in the oncoming lane, into which it moved to avoid a red light.»

The San Francisco Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), which ordered Cruise to reduce its fleet size, said: «DMV is investigating recent incidents involving Cruise vehicles in San Francisco.»

«DMV is contacting Cruise and law enforcement officials to establish the facts and is asking Cruise to immediately reduce its active fleet of vehicles by 50% until the investigation is complete and Cruise takes appropriate corrective action to improve road safety.»

The city has pioneered the legalization of self-driving cars without a driver behind the wheel. California officials voted to allow Cruise and Waymo to operate self-driving taxis in San Francisco 24/7 and charge for them earlier this month.

However, cars have been involved in a number of incidents.

Several cruise cars brought a busy intersection to a halt in San Francisco's popular North Beach area earlier this month. apparently after failures with their wireless connection. Last week, a car got stuck after driving into wet concrete.

Waymo, the other test company, didn't have as many problems. In June, a Waymo self-driving car killed a dog that ran out onto the road.

Some politicians in San Francisco demanded a review of company permits.

Cruise. A spokesman said: “More than a hundred people are killed on American roads every day and countless others are badly injured.

«We believe it is clear that Cruise has a positive impact on overall road safety and look forward to working with CA DMV to make any improvements and provide any data needed to improve the safety and efficiency of our fleet» .