Less than 24 hours after a driverless taxi operated by Cruise collided with a fire truck at an intersection in San Francisco, the company has agreed to a request from state regulators to reduce the number of vehicles it was operating in the city. This setback for the driverless car company comes shortly after the California Public Utilities Commission approved the expansion of driverless taxi services from both Cruise and its competitor Waymo, owned by Alphabet. The California Department of Motor Vehicles, responsible for the safety of driverless cars, has requested that Cruise cut the number of vehicles it operates in San Francisco. This request comes after a Cruise vehicle collided with a fire truck, injuring a passenger, and another became stuck in freshly poured concrete. Cruise has yet to comment on the matter.
Cruise currently has 400 vehicles in operation in San Francisco, but as a result of the regulatory request, they will be limited to 50 driverless cars during the day and 150 at night.
In recent incidents, around 10 Cruise vehicles experienced technical difficulties in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood, causing traffic disruptions for 15 minutes. The cars had trouble connecting to Cruise employees due to high cellular traffic caused by a nearby music festival. Other Cruise vehicles also experienced issues near the festival location.
The California Public Utilities Commission authorized Cruise and Waymo to charge for rides throughout San Francisco. The Department of Motor Vehicles and the Public Utilities Commission are the governing bodies for autonomous vehicles in California. Companies must obtain permits from the Department of Motor Vehicles before applying for driverless deployment permits from the utilities commission, the type Cruise and Waymo recently received. The Department of Motor Vehicles is currently investigating the incidents involving Cruise vehicles and has asked the company to reduce the number of vehicles in operation until the investigation is complete and appropriate corrective actions are taken to enhance road safety.
San Francisco officials have been raising concerns about autonomous vehicles since January, citing instances where they have interfered with emergency vehicles. Prior to this week, there were 55 documented incidents where driverless cars abruptly stopped or impeded emergency vehicles, including an incident involving firefighters responding to a house fire.
In response, city officials filed an injunction on Wednesday, requesting a temporary halt to the expansion of driverless taxi services. Neither Cruise nor Waymo has provided details on how they plan to expand their driverless taxi operations.
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