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During this phase, the Cruise vehicles will drive themselves and a safety driver is present behind the wheel to monitor and take over if needed. But when it comes to future AV ride-sharing schemes, you might find something like it on a street near you. A string of incidents occurred within days of receiving the CPUC permit, including a collision between a Cruise robotaxi and an emergency vehicle that left a passenger injured. The DMV told Cruise it had to reduce its robotaxi fleet to 50% while the department investigated that incident. That prompted some San Francisco city officials to formally request that state regulators redo an August hearing that expanded robotaxi permits for Cruise and Waymo.
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"We are confident in the team and committed to supporting Cruise as they set the company up for long-term success with a focus on trust, accountability and transparency," GM said Thursday in a statement related to announced layoffs at Cruise. Cruise, its majority-owned autonomous vehicle subsidiary, is increasingly looking like it might be next. "Cruise provides our company with a unique technology advantage that is unmatched in our industry," Mark Reuss, GM executive vice president of global product development, purchasing, and supply chain, said in a statement.
Are autonomous vehicles viable?
Cruise is in danger of becoming GM's latest trendy venture that doesn't pay off - CNBC
Cruise is in danger of becoming GM's latest trendy venture that doesn't pay off.
Posted: Fri, 15 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]
"Our union urges elected officials and regulators to require that Cruise release its complete and comprehensive safety data. The public has a right to transparency and safety information from a company that plans to use our public roads as its testing ground for autonomous technology. In California alone, more than 40 companies — ranging from young start-ups to tech giants — have permits to test their self-driving cars in San Francisco, according to the DMV. According to a Washington Post analysis of the data, the companies collectively report millions of miles on public roads every year, along with hundreds of mostly minor accidents.
Cruise Will Re-Launch Robotaxis ‘With Communities, Not At Them’
The Cruise vehicle then moved "rightward before braking aggressively, but still made contact with the pedestrian," the company said. "The AV detected a collision, bringing the vehicle to a stop; then attempted to pull over to avoid causing further road safety issues, pulling the individual forward approximately 20 feet." In San Francisco, city officials have no say over whether — or how — the cars are deployed on their streets.
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"As CEO, I take responsibility for the situation Cruise is in today. There are no excuses, and there is no sugar coating what has happened. We need to double down on safety, transparency, and community engagement," he wrote in the email quoted by Reuters. Cruise ridehail services are not available at this time, but you can join the waitlist to be one of the first. Aaron Peskin, president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, said that first responders who tended to the crash noted a trail of blood from the point of impact with the woman to where the vehicle ultimately stopped about 20 feet away. "It's about reprioritizing ... and making sure that you're reducing what you don't need to do anymore," GM CFO Paul Jacobson told media Nov. 30 about the company's overall cost-cutting measures, including "considerably" scaling back its energy and BrightDrop units. GM Energy and the BrightDrop commercial EV unit continue to operate; however, GM recently brought BrightDrop in-house from being a wholly owned subsidiary.
ARIZONA TEAMSTERS TO CRUISE: STAY OFF OUR STREETS
Following an October 2 accident, California authorities revoked the company's operating permit. Founded in 2013, Cruise makes self-driving cars that have the potential to save millions of lives, reshape our cities, give people more spare time, and restore freedom of movement for many. "The Teamsters will fight Cruise's full resumption of autonomous vehicle operation in Arizona. We cannot allow this company's path of destruction in California to happen in our state." We’re working to bring new transportation options that work for you and your community. We believe driverless technology has the potential to save lives, enhance access and improve communities.
How a robotaxi crash got Cruise’s self-driving cars pulled from Californian roads
But commercializing autonomous vehicles didn't pan out for most, and it's been far more challenging than many predicted even a few years ago. The challenges have led to a consolidation in the sector after years of enthusiasm touting the technology as the next multitrillion-dollar market for transportation companies. It should be noted that NHTSA opened its own investigation into Cruise’s autonomous vehicle system following several incidents involving pedestrians in San Francisco, including the October 2 event.
Ammann was reportedly open to the idea but wanted to prioritize Cruise’s robotaxi service. The company had planned to launch a commercial robotaxi service in San Francisco in 2019 but failed to do so, and it has yet to publicly commit to a new date — though it has strongly implied that it will be in 2022. For now, Cruise’s driverless vehicles are only approved to operate with paid customers at night, between 10PM and 6AM, at a maximum speed of 30mph and can even drive in “light rain and fog.” The company can test with or without unpaid passengers in both driverless and with drivers 24/7.
During our operational pause over the last few months, Cruise maintained ongoing and extensive testing in complex, dynamic simulated environments and on closed courses, enabling continuous retraining and improvement. Now, we are building on that work to create high-quality semantic maps and gather road information to ensure future operations meet elevated safety and performance targets. And because no two cities are the same, we plan to conduct this manual and supervised driving in multiple cities - starting with Phoenix - to expose our AVs to a diverse set of driving environments and conditions as we prepare for future driverless service. Technological issues aside, what really put Cruise in hot water late last year was its response to the incident. Regulators accused the company of withholding information about the crash, only sharing that a Cruise robotaxi ran over a pedestrian who had been flung into its path after first being struck by a human-driven vehicle. Pressure to suspend or revoke Cruise’s permits escalated after an October 2 incident that left a woman stuck underneath a Cruise robotaxi after being hit by a human-driven vehicle.
GM's financial arm continues to operate an insurance business that was launched in late 2020 as part of its growth initiatives. GM, like other companies, has quickly shifted from attempting to impress Wall Street with growth initiatives, including generating $80 billion in new businesses by 2030, to refocusing efforts on core business to generate profits amid economic and recessionary concerns. PCMag.com is a leading authority on technology, delivering lab-based, independent reviews of the latest products and services. Our expert industry analysis and practical solutions help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology. Prior to joining PCMag, I was a reporter for SC Magazine, focusing on hackers and computer security. I earned a BS in journalism from West Virginia University, and started my career writing for newspapers in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.
Cruise is one of a handful of companies authorized to commercially operate their autonomous vehicles on San Francisco city streets without a human safety driver on board who can take over the driving task if there is a technical glitch or other need. Cruise will resume manual driving of its autonomous vehicles to create maps and gather road information in certain cities, starting with Phoenix, the company said Tuesday. The GM subsidiary already had a presence in Phoenix before it pulled its entire U.S.-based fleet last year following an incident in San Francisco that left a pedestrian stuck under and dragged by a Cruise robotaxi. The DMV, which regulates autonomous vehicle testing and deployments in the state, said Cruise must meet a number of steps to reinstate its suspended permits, which the agency will not approve until the company has fulfilled the requirements to the department’s satisfaction. This decision does not impact the company’s permit for testing with a safety driver, the DMV added. Today, Cruise operates fleets of Chevy Bolt AVs in San Francisco, Austin and Phoenix, with plans to expand to a handful more cities.
Because the vehicle had no steering wheel, emergency personnel couldn’t quickly move it, and had to wait for a tow truck. Cruise, via GM, has been waiting for an exemption from the federal government’s motor vehicle safety standards, which require vehicles to have a steering wheel and pedals. NHTSA only grants 2,500 such exemptions each year, but there is legislation to increase that number to 25,000. GM's investment in Cruise and its share of the company's losses have cost the automaker more than $8 billion since 2016, according to annual public filings.
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