Cruise has determined that an accident where a pedestrian was dragged by a Cruise Robotaxi could have recurred every 10 million – 100 million miles of driving on average prior to the software update. As Cruise software improves, it is likely they will file additional recalls to inform both NHTSA and the public of updates to enhance safety across their fleet.
The company voluntarily shut down its entire fleet nationwide, halting deployments in Arizona and Texas. CEO Kyle Vogt confirmed to employees that the company will need to do layoffs in an all-hands meeting.
Cruise, a General Motors subsidiary, was rushing to scale its robotaxi self-driving operations on an aggressive timeline that seemed to prioritize growth over safety, the sudden turn of events is a sign that a more considered rollout might have been wiser. On October 2, a Cruise car hit and dragged a San Francisco pedestrian who had been struck earlier by another car. The incident led to the California DMV revoked Cruise’s operating permit in California. The DMV Cruise vehicles are not safe for the public’s operation and pose an unreasonable risk to the public. Days later, Cruise voluntarily shut down its entire fleet nationwide, halting deployments in Arizona and Texas.
Cruise has hired a Chief Safety Officer who will report to CEO Vogt. They are bringing in both a law firm and a third-party engineer firm to investigate the October 2 incident and its aftermath.
Cruise recalled 950 of its cars and parent company GM halted production of an exclusively autonomous multi-passenger vehicle.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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