A Cruise robotaxi blocked a San Francisco ambulance from getting a pedestrian hit by a vehicle to the hospital in an Aug. 14 incident, according to first responder accounts. The patient later died of their injuries.
Above is a photo of a different Cruise incident where a Firetruck hit a Cruise. Have not found a photo of the ambulance being blocked by the Cruise
Cruise disputes the incident. Cruise spokesperson said we did not impede the vehicle from getting to the hospital. What the fire department said is not accurate.
The Fire Department accounts say the incident happened in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood at Seventh and Harrison streets, close to a Cruise car depot. The ambulance driver could not quickly leave the scene with a critically injured patient due to the autonomous vehicles blocking the ambulance’s path, the Fire Department report said.
Cruise autonomous taxis occupied two lanes of a four-lane, one-way street, forcing a police vehicle in a separate lane to move to make space for the ambulance to leave.
Video from Cruise
Video and other surveillance data gathered by Cruise showed three Cruise vehicles were present at the scene. Two left the scene but one remained stopped as an ambulance arrived behind it. Cars continued to pass in the lane to the right of the stopped Cruise car.
Public documents detail over 70 instances since April 2022 of autonomous vehicles [Cruise and Waymo mainly] allegedly obstructing a variety of emergency responses—including fires, and restoring electrical services. Despite months of pushback from many residents and city officials, California regulators approved the public usage of autonomous taxi services like Cruise and Waymo in San Francisco last month. Within days of the greenlight, however, the autonomous vehicles reportedly ran stop signs, produced lengthy traffic jams, and recklessly swerved to avoid pedestrians.
"Waymo and Cruise reported 103 and 68 collisions in San Francisco since Jan. 1, 2022.
Of Cruise's 68 collision reports, around 20% of crash incidents since 2022 involved injuries."
This is amazing. There were only 500-600 of these cars on the road. https://t.co/etpUYcp59c
— Y Dissasembler (@loomdoop) September 5, 2023
Waymo robotaxis reported 35 more crashes in San Francisco than Cruise since the beginning of 2022, according to publicly available reports from the California Department of Motor Vehicles. But Cruise had far more incidents involving injuries.
As of August 30, 2023, the DMV has received 649 Autonomous Vehicle Collision Reports.
Waymo and Cruise reported 103 and 68 collisions in San Francisco since Jan. 1, 2022, according to the latest records available from the DMV.
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For two decades now, the SDC Utopians said on NBF and other forums that this wouldn’t happen.
I insisted otherwise. Who has the better track record?
Cruise apparently is close to getting federal safety rule exemption approval for their Origin robotaxi’s (which lack pedals and steering wheels).
Apparently the exemptions are capped at 2500 a year though? Is that vehicles, or some sort of model/type approval? If those are being applied per vehicle, I imagine those custom vehicles for handicapped people would consume most of the available slots though.
Obviously not Cruise’s fault.
Here are some recent examples:
2023: The San Francisco Fire Department (SFFD) opposed a proposal to allow automated taxis to operate in the city, citing concerns about safety and liability. The SFFD argued that automated taxis could pose a fire hazard if they were involved in an accident, and that the department would not be able to respond quickly enough to rescue passengers in the event of a fire.
2022: The SFFD questioned the safety of a proposed 50-story tower in the city’s SoMa neighborhood. The department argued that the tower would be too tall to be properly evacuated in the event of a fire, and that it would pose a fire hazard to surrounding buildings.
2021: The SFFD opposed a plan to build a new homeless shelter in the city’s Tenderloin neighborhood. The department argued that the shelter would pose a fire hazard and that it would attract crime to the area.
2019: The SFFD questioned the legality of a proposed ordinance that would have allowed food trucks to operate in more areas of the city. The department argued that the ordinance would create fire hazards and that it would be difficult to enforce.
2018: The SFFD opposed a plan to build a new stadium in the city’s Mission Bay neighborhood. The department argued that the stadium would pose a fire hazard and that it would create traffic problems.
They still oppose the expansion of BART into the city’s Richmond District.
In addition to these specific projects, the SFFD has also opposed a number of other developments in the city, such as the legalization of marijuana and the expansion of bike lanes. The department has argued that these developments would pose fire hazards or make it more difficult for firefighters to do their jobs.
They feel that they have to put their thumb on the scale for every city decision. The 2022 Soma thing was purely political. We have plenty of 50 story plus buildings in San Francisco already. Look at my examples. The SFFD always chooses the opposite of what the city needs or wants.
The San Francisco Fire Department’s top leadership are a bunch of political bullies. When ever San Francisco tries to move ahead with any project, after all the bids are complete and every city department is finally in agreement the SFFD will drop a political turd in the punchbowl just to show their power. I think they feel they weren’t “in the loop” enough when the city approved the robocar contracts in the first place and now are determined to exaggerate the robocars problems as political revenge. I live in San Francisco. They’re led by political hacks.
I think eventually we will need an “internet of cars” where cars can speak to each other and an ambulance can say, “hey, i’m an ambulance on an urgent job, gtfo of my way”
Now the ambulance is way heavier than the stuck automated car. That thing looks more like an fire truck.
Driver could simply push it out of way. You would need to repaint the fender of the ambulance.
The automated car would get damage to the rear and probably the rear door, no danger to anybody inside, but if I was in this setting I would eject asap.
Know that fire trucks see cars blocking the road as very temporal delays like speed bumps.
Unfortunately garbage trucks don’t get this luxury as they are not time sensitive 🙂
But this is san-francisco so rules are probably stupid.
the photo is not of the event. It is a different event where a firetruck hit a cruise
Yep. the world is a complex place. In some cases, it is justifiable for a driver to go over the curb or temporarily move and park into a forbidden place (with some common sense precautions), just to give way to an emergency response vehicle.
It’s that or you give access to the emergency services to override the SDC car controls, open it and move it out of the way. Which opens another can of worms, related to adding intrinsic vulnerabilities