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Waymo has its sights set on Los Angeles and New York City, while Cruise is testing its vehicles in Miami and Austin, Texas. The companies are under enormous pressure to turn on the money spigots after their parent companies have invested tens of billions of dollars for more than a decade with very little money flowing back into their coffers. Austin's mayor pro tem, Paige Ellis, called the issue a matter of "public trust."
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Cruise’s efforts to manually reroute the vehicles proved too slow, exacerbating the traffic jam. However, once alerted to the situation, Cruise promptly took control and autonomously guided all their electric vehicles out of the congested area. A lieutenant with the fire station at 506 West Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard even fretted in an internal e-mail that driverless vehicles were presenting an issue for fire trucks leaving the station, because the cars would stop in place when they detected emergency lights. On the evening of Saturday, Sept. 30, firefighters responded to a Cruise vehicle stopped in the road and blocking traffic. The screen in the vehicle said a crash had occurred, according to an incident report.
Records show first responders in Austin struggling to respond to Cruise's self-driving cars
About 20 Cruise-operated Chevrolet Bolts were seen stuck up and down San Gabriel Street late Saturday night. Some had shifted into the oncoming side of the two-lane street, even forcing a pair of Cruise cars to face one another in some sort of autonomous stand-off, blocking traffic even further. Moreover, the dearth of viable north-south routes through the city and an unplanned detour from an alternative route resulted in several robotaxis converging on the same beleaguered thoroughfare.
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After that incident, Cruise has been working to “rebuild public trust." Austin officials said residents complained about the cars not operating properly. The company’s suspension follows the launch of a federal investigation into incidents with pedestrians in San Francisco. A fleet of these self-driving cars has been giving rides to passengers in certain Austin neighborhoods these days. Cruise launched its hailing app in December after wrapping up testing. In a statement to KUT, Cruise said it "has consistently cooperated with each of NHTSA’s requests for information," whether cases warrant an investigation or not, and that it would continue to do so.
As you can see in the video, one of the Cruise vehicles got stuck in an intersection while committing to a turn, thus further congesting traffic in three different directions. But that hasn't stopped residents from complaining about blocked intersections and interference with emergency services. The department has since reached out to equivalent bodies in Phoenix, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington D.C. The cars have also gotten stuck in crosswalks, at green lights, in intersections, and even played chicken with other Cruise vehicles. In fact, just have a look at the r/Austin subreddit and you'll quickly see how the self-driving experiment has tested the patience of locals.
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Other reported incidents depict time-consuming responses to unusual situations. Cruise emphasized the decision to suspend AV operations "isn't related to any new on-road incidents." (1/3) The most important thing for us right now is to take steps to rebuild public trust.
Over a Dozen Robotaxis Cause Massive Traffic Jam in Austin - autoevolution
Over a Dozen Robotaxis Cause Massive Traffic Jam in Austin.
Posted: Sun, 24 Sep 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
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Cruise added that the two incidents account for a sliver of the more than 5 million miles traveled by its driverless vehicles. Unfortunately, more and more Cruise robotaxis flooded the narrow Austin street to meet the peak demand, only to join in the traffic jam. Cruise states that at the time, there were limited routes going north and south through the city, and a detour from an alternative route led the EVs to the same doomed parkway. While we don’t agree with the tampering of robotaxis, it’s not unfair to say that the nascent technology has room for improvement, and some feel that urban municipalities should not be used as a testing ground. Regardless, companies like Cruise have come a long way, expanding beyond the Bay Area into new cities throughout California and outside of The Golden State in Austin, Texas.
A spokesperson hinted that the problem may have been related to pedestrian traffic, though the footage circulating social media does not show an abundance of people nearby during the gridlock. According to several local news reports, 10 Cruise vehicles sat paralyzed in a busy intersection near the Outside Lands Music Festival, causing a traffic jam and drawing exasperation from witnesses. The company told KPIX that the music festival caused “wireless connectivity issues” with its vehicles. In other words, festivalgoers were overwhelming the cellular networks, making it difficult for Cruise’s vehicles to send and receive information.
Robotaxi
"It's unfortunate that state law doesn't allow us to regulate this unproven technology on our streets." The city says it has no record of anyone being hurt by an autonomous vehicle in Austin. Cruise says it takes all incidents seriously and argues it has a good track record after more than 5 million driverless miles. After waves of complaints from residents in Austin and elsewhere, Cruise announced Thursday it was suspending self-driving taxi operations nationwide to build "public trust." The pauses came after one of the company’s vehicles was involved in a high-profile incident in early October where a Cruise vehicle hit and dragged a pedestrian in California.
The bill also set minimum safety standards for self-driving cars operating in Texas. The legislation, Senate Bill 2205, was celebrated by General Motors at the time. So firefighters couldn't roll the vehicle out of the intersection. Some residents were just weirded out by gangs of robot cars roaming in packs through their neighborhood.
In essence, while the recent Austin traffic snarl involving Cruise’s robotaxis was a minor hiccup for some commuters, it underscores the complexities of integrating autonomous vehicles into bustling urban landscapes. Even though Cruise is voluntarily taking driverless vehicles off Austin's streets, the halt is only temporary. Austin is in a bind as it relates to autonomous vehicles, as state law prevents cities in Texas from regulating them. Texas does require autonomous vehicle operators to report accidents and incidents with local authorities, and vehicles must be registered. You can tell that many San Franciscans are sick and tired of playing guinea pig to these tech companies.
The 48-second clip shows gridlocked traffic on a narrow Austin street dominated by Cruise EVs. Unfortunately, some of Cruise’s growing pains in Austin were caught on camera as a swarm of robotaxis flooded a congested area. We spoke to Cruise and got the lowdown about what exactly happened. By Andrew J. Hawkins, transportation editor with 10+ years of experience who covers EVs, public transportation, and aviation.
On other occasions, firefighters wrote, Cruise employees struggled to move their own disabled vehicles out of the way of traffic. Cruise said the incident occurred when a car, driven by a human, collided with a pedestrian crossing a street against a red light. The pedestrian was then launched in front of an autonomous Cruise vehicle which braked but still collided with the pedestrian, and then pulled over after stopping, dragging the pedestrian forward about 20 feet. Cruise, which is a subsidiary of General Motors, has had an Austin presence since September 2022. In December 2022 it began offering driverless ride-hailing services in certain areas of downtown, Central and East Austin between 9 p.m.
Cruise and Waymo say they are in constant dialogue with police, fire, and emergency services and have created training programs for first responders to “safely interact” with their vehicles. They also say that every incident is used as training data to be uploaded to the rest of the fleet to avoid repeating the same mistakes. In response to the incident, Cruise issued a statement emphasizing their unwavering commitment to safety.
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