Pack of GM Cruise robo-taxis freeze, snarl up Friday night traffic amid festival crowds
- Reference: 1692042193
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/08/14/gm_cruise_waymo_robotaxis/
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Rewind to Thursday, and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) voted to expand the hours of operation for GM Cruise and Waymo robotaxis in San Francisco, despite opposition from police, fire fighters, and other city agencies.
Previously Cruise was allowed to operate completely computer-controlled taxi rides with no human safety driver present in certain parts of San Francisco from 10pm to 6am; and robo-taxi rides anywhere in SF at any time if a driver was present. Now it can run AI taxis without a safety driver present at any time of day.
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Waymo, meanwhile, could charge for robo-rides at any time of the day in the city if a safety driver was present. Now Waymo can provide automated rides at any time even if a driver isn't present.
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Three out of four participating commissioners [4]supported the resolution, one of whom, John Reynolds, served as managing counsel for GM Cruise from 2019 until 2022. A fifth commissioner did not attend the hearing.
The Register asked the CPUC why Reynolds did not recuse himself from the vote, a potential conflict-of-interest acknowledgement [5]sought by San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin last month.
[6]
"Commissioner Reynolds is permitted to vote on the items," said CPUC spokesperson Terrie Prosper in an emailed statement. "He has no financial interest in Cruise or any other AV company." AV being autonomous vehicle.
Well timed
The following day, Friday, approximately 10 Cruise robotaxis [7]stopped moving in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood, a consequence of crowds at the Outside Lands music festival [8]overloading cell networks , according to The San Francisco Chronicle.
It's said the cars needed the connectivity to route their journeys. The snafu held up traffic on the Grant Avenue corridor of bars, restaurants, and strip joints near Columbus Avenue.
GM Cruise did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The resulting traffic snarl and delays were exactly what prompted police, firefighters, and other city agencies to oppose the CPUC resolution.
From kinks in the tech to plain kinky
Despite the US National Highway Transportation Safety Administration's [9]preliminary investigation into the safety of GM Cruise robotaxis, passengers have reportedly decided the vehicles are safe enough for sex.
The San Francisco Standard [10]claims to have spoken "four separate Cruise car riders who said they’ve had sex or hooked up in the driverless vehicles in San Francisco over recent months and have provided ride receipts." Fnar, fnar. No such Waymo passengers have been identified.
The Register asked GM Cruise whether it is aware of any such incidents but we've not heard back.
GM Cruise of course has cameras that [11]record activities within its vehicles, and the automaker promises to share those recordings only under limited circumstances.
Since self-driving cars began limited nighttime commercial operation in San Francisco in June 2022, there have been approximately [12]600 reported incidents [PDF], which the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) considers to be just a fraction of the actual number of incidents.
SFMTA notes that neither GM Cruise nor Waymo report the number of unexpected stops or other incidents that interfere with the duties of first responders. The San Francisco Fire Department has about 50 written reports of interference in 2023, related to robotaxis obstructing fire station ingress/egress or transit to locations, and other forms of intrusive driving behavior.
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"The SFMTA and the SFCTA [San Francisco County Transportation Authority] supported a measured, incremental approach to expanding AV passenger services in San Francisco that fully considers potential impacts of this new technology, and establishes broader transparency and incremental approvals based on performance benchmarks before allowing unrestricted driverless AV services in San Francisco," said SFMTA spokesperson Stephen Chun, in a statement emailed to The Register .
"Unfortunately, the California Public Utilities Commission has prematurely allowed unrestricted driverless AV commercial passenger services on San Francisco streets."
[14]San Francisco fog defeats pack of Waymo robo-taxis
[15]Waymo self-driving robotaxi goes rogue with passenger inside, escapes support staff
[16]Cruise self-driving cars stopped and clogged up San Francisco for hours
[17]GM's Cruise revises self-driving software after San Francisco crash
Chun voiced appreciation for concerns expressed by Commissioner Genevieve Shiroma, the lone dissenting vote, about the impact driverless AVs have had on first responders, and statements from several commissions urging Cruise and Waymo to work with the city to improve the situation.
Chun said SFMTA and SFCTA will continue work with state regulators, AV firms, and CPUC staff "to reduce the unintended safety hazards created by AVs."
The commission has prematurely allowed unrestricted driverless AV commercial passenger services
As [18]noted by Mission Local, the expansion of robotaxi service in San Francisco has been supported by International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 6 and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 87 because the labor unions believe the companies will offer more electrical and janitorial jobs.
But about 30 other labor groups sent a letter to the CPUC opposing the robottaxi expansion due to safety concerns and worries about automation eliminating jobs.
Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana in [19]a statement heralded the start of full commercial operations in San Francisco.
"We’re incredibly grateful for this vote of confidence from the CPUC, and to the communities and riders who have supported our service," said Mawakana. "We can't wait for more San Franciscans to experience the mobility, safety, sustainability and accessibility benefits of full autonomy for themselves — all at the touch of a button."
Speaking of cars and wireless connectivity...
Last week Ford [20]issued a note saying the Wi-Fi in its SYNC 3 infotainment system has a buffer-overflow bug in its wireless chipset firmware that could be exploited to achieve remote code execution. That means someone near a vulnerable vehicle could hijack the infotainment part of the vehicle; the automaker said critical functions, such as braking and steering, aren't affected.
A software patch will be issued, and can be installed via USB stick. Drivers can switch off their SYNC 3 Wi-Fi in the meantime if they're concerned about their security.
"To date," Ford said in a statement, "we’ve seen no evidence that this vulnerability has been exploited, which would likely require significant expertise and would also include being physically near an individual vehicle that has its ignition and Wi-Fi setting on. Our investigation also found that if this vulnerability was exploited, however unlikely, it would not affect the safety of vehicle occupants, since the infotainment system is firewalled from controls like steering, throttling and braking."
Here's hoping autonomous taxis are better secured. ®
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[4] https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/news-and-updates/all-news/cpuc-approves-permits-for-cruise-and-waymo-to-charge-fares-for-passenger-service-in-sf-2023
[5] https://sfstandard.com/2023/07/14/state-regulator-who-worked-for-cruise-should-abstain-from-robotaxi-vote-say-san-francisco-lawmakers/
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZNqkCNjLf8oFKjHHFkKrTwAAAVg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://twitter.com/Gregster56/status/1690255903830990848
[8] https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/outside-lands-cruise-vehicles-backup-18293898.php
[9] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/16/business/gm-cruise-self-driving-cars-investigation.html
[10] https://sfstandard.com/2023/08/11/san-francisco-robotaxi-cruise-debauchery/
[11] https://getcruise.com/cameras-inside-the-car-for-safety-and-support/
[12] https://www.sfmta.com/sites/default/files/reports-and-documents/2023/08/2023.08.07_cpuc_status_conference_8.7.2023_final.pdf
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZNqkCNjLf8oFKjHHFkKrTwAAAVg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/12/waymo_san_francisco_fog_traffic/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/17/waymo_robotaxi_malfunction/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/18/cruise_cars_stopped/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/01/cruise/
[18] https://missionlocal.org/2023/08/cruise-waymo-given-green-light-for-robo-taxis-across-san-francisco/
[19] https://waymo.com/blog/2023/08/waymos-next-chapter-in-san-francisco.html
[20] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/14/ford_sync_vulnerability/
[21] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
I'm unsure if humans are fully autonomous any more. I've witnessed people grinding to a halt in their cars coz their phone has lost it's signal and the GPS no longer works so they don't know where they're going.
Yup. I still have maps in my car, and yes, I still know how to read them as well.
Imagine if people in Maui had autonomous cars
The fire took out the cell towers (which I guess are on higher ground outside the city?) so all cellular communication was lost which is one of the reasons there was no notice. Who knows how high the death toll will end up being, but it would have been a lot higher if those who evacuated via car were unable to because of an autonomous vehicle stopping in front of them when it lost its cellular signal! The roads there are narrow - more like Irish country roads than the typical US highway so it might not be possible to get around them.
Or think about a hacker taking out the national cellular network that one brand of car depends on (i.e. if Tesla used Verizon or GM used AT&T) in some future where there are autonomous vehicles in every major city. They could bring the entire country to a standstill without needing to hack a single vehicle or traffic signal. Do that when there's a big winter storm approaching and people are stuck for days until the mess is cleaned up and a lot of people would die.
Yeah this is a problem that needs to be fixed before autonomous vehicles are allowed to operate. Surely they can cache maps. They might not have access to live traffic data, but they should be able to operate without it.
""It's said the cars needed the connectivity to route their journeys."
If that is ALL they need a wireless connection for, why does it not have an up to date built-in mapping system, even a cheap SatNav they can connect to the rest of the cars systems as a backup? Grinding to a halt when there's no phone/WiFi signal is not a good look. Just try making a mobile phone call or using mobile data from somewhere where there are a lot of people, most of whom will have mobile data permanently turned on, WiFi turned on and many apps chattering even when they are not using the phone, sucking up what can be limited bandwidth many places. If I need to log into our work system while out on the road, it's not a good idea to pull into a motorway services around lunchtime during the summer school holidays. You might have 5 bars, but you ain't getting much data, so I'm not surprised those GM cars lost the wireless data in a busy, crowded area. You'd think that would be a major metric they'd have been monitoring for while they were running with drivers during the daytime.
Not dangerous, Ford?
I'm pretty sure if someone could turn your stereo on full blast when you're driving it would distract you and could cause an accident.
Plus access to the ICE system could compromise phone contacts, messages, connected apps and potentially be used to compromise traffic through MITM attacks.
Loud chorus of "Told you so."
They ain't autonomous if they depend on a network connection!
So for anyone wanting to cause trouble in the future a $100 mobile jammer will bring a city's traffic to a halt?