Cruise parks entire US fleet over safety fears
- Reference: 1700081105
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/11/15/cruise_parks_fleet/
- Source link:
Last month, the self-driving taxi biz made [1]headlines when one of its driverless cars struck a woman and trapped her under the vehicle just seconds after she had been knocked down by a human hit-and-run driver in San Francisco. A few weeks after the accident, it was revealed Cruise's vehicle had also dragged her along the road for roughly 20 feet before it came to a stop over her body.
The California's Department of Motor Vehicles rescinded Cruise's self-driving vehicle license and the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) launched an [2]investigation into recent incidents involving crashes with pedestrians. The former [3]claimed Cruise had not shared the complete footage of at least one blunder; the GM-owned biz, however, denied this.
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Now, Cruise is going one step further and is halting all "supervised and manual [autonomous vehicle] (AV) operations" in the US too: that means no more rides or journeys for a while, with or without a human at the wheel. Headquartered in San Francisco, the startup had also been working to expand its fleet of robo-taxis in Phoenix, Arizona, and in Austin and Houston, Texas.
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"This orderly pause is a further step to rebuild public trust while we undergo a full safety review. We will continue to operate our vehicles in closed course training environments and maintain an active simulation program in order to stay focused on advancing AV technology," it [7]said in an update on Tuesday.
[8]Cruise blues: Robotaxi firm pauses all driverless operations
[9]Cruise admits its driverless robo-taxis need a human at the remote-control wheel
[10]Cruise patches robo-taxi software to not drag humans across the road anymore
[11]Human knocks down woman in hit-and-run. Then driverless Cruise car parks on top of her
Cruise also reported that engineering consulting firm Exponent, previously hired to assess the October accident, will expand its probe to cover the operation's safety and culture. The move comes after it promised to hire a chief safety officer, who will directly report to the CEO Kyle Vogt.
The fleet shutdown is voluntary, and was agreed upon after Cruise held a quarterly meeting with its board in San Francisco.
Last week, it [12]said it had issued a software fix to prevent its vehicles from dragging people under its car following a collision. Cruise said its previous Collision Detection Subsystem may attempt to pull over after an accident, but now it should be better at detecting whether a person might be trapped under its vehicle, which is somewhat reassuring.
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"Cruise is dedicated to rebuilding trust and operating at the highest standards of safety. We are committed to keeping our customers, regulators, and the public informed throughout this process," Cruise commented. ®
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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/04/driverless_cruise_car_pedestrian/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/17/nhtsa_cruise_investigation/
[3] https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/news-and-media/dmv-statement-on-cruise-llc-suspension/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZVVNm091fb8cciDR9a-wBQAAAEM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZVVNm091fb8cciDR9a-wBQAAAEM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZVVNm091fb8cciDR9a-wBQAAAEM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://getcruise.com/news/blog/2023/important-updates-from-cruise/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/27/cruise_blues_robotaxi_firm_pauses/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/07/cruise_confirms_driverless_taxis_need/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/08/cruise_selfdriving_software_update/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/04/driverless_cruise_car_pedestrian/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/08/cruise_selfdriving_software_update/
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZVVNm091fb8cciDR9a-wBQAAAEM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: The only way to make autonomous cars safe
Better yet, just cut a few cables and the entire problem is solved forever.
Dedicated right of ways ARE the better option
But rail isn't as good a comparison. What's needed is basically a carpool lane with the addition of some machine readable signage. Limit them to streets with no other loopy terrain features or complications, or problematic pedestrian interactions. No more than one of every 4th street or so in the city grid and to highways. Mandate that there actually be someone in the drivers seat at all times. Mandate that if self drive is enabled the car also respond to a remote stop order from emergency services, and let them move the car out of the way or enter the car if it's blocking them. That's all doable with the technology we have.
And unlike rail, can be added to existing roads, share the road with other vehicles, and cars can get on and off them when they need to. In an emergency the lane can handle normal traffic, unlike rail which will never be rolled out in any scale in existing urban centers, has a checkered safety record of it's own, an is eye wateringly expensive. Dedicated right of ways mean a driver should be able to live with driving a couple blocks to get to or from an autopilot enabled road, Pedestrians won't have to share the street with them unless their home or destination is on one, and if they want to avoid them they can largely do so by taking the next street over. You could also give one of the remaining streets over to foot, bike, and other light vehicle access. (hipsters on unicycles are people too! No really...), and still have two left for boring regular cars that don't want to interact with AVs, and literally every other lane of the highway system.
Also many of the train enthusiasts become less so when they are filled with poor people. The light rail in my area has been watching the ridership plummet since we came out of the covid years. Sadly the reason they don't want to ride the bus is the same that they stop riding trains after millions or billions have been wasted building them.
If you can fix train ridership, you can fix bus ridership. Electric busses already work. We operate them at scale already. They are cheap, reasonably safe, and won't wipe out an entire city block like a train derailment. There are no mile long cargo busses jamming up the bus lane. And lastly, a bus can easily share the road with cars, trucks, or AVs. Not that trains should disappear, they can still make some sense for high volume or longer haul lines, where there is already track.
The only way to make autonomous cars safe
is to ensure they have a very regular predictable environment.
Basically a version of a railway.