DMV shuts down Cruise robotaxis in San Francisco, says firm misled on safety

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The California Department of Motor Vehicles on Tuesday shut down problem-plagued Cruise autonomous taxis in San Francisco, saying the vehicles, involved in several troubling incidents, presented an “unreasonable risk to the public.”

“This is a wake-up call to Cruise to pay closer attention to road safety,” said Carnegie Mellon University engineering professor Phil Koopman, who likened the company’s robotaxis to “teenage drivers not displaying good judgment.”

San Francisco has become a proving ground for driverless taxi technology, with Cruise and Google spinoff Waymo testing out their vehicles on public roads. But Cruise’s robotaxis in particular have come under fire from city officials over their propensity to stop and snarl traffic and obstruct emergency vehicles.

A driverless Cruise robotaxi pauses while attempting to drive between two San Francisco police vehicles with their emergency lights, Monday, July 24, 2023, in San Francisco, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
A driverless Cruise robotaxi pauses while attempting to drive between two San Francisco police vehicles with their emergency lights, Monday, July 24, 2023, in San Francisco, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group) 

Removal of Cruise’s driverless taxis from San Francisco’s roads comes as officials in other Bay Area cities closely watch the technology’s roll-out. Decisions on where the vehicles are ultimately deployed remains under the authority of state regulators. San Jose has said all it can do is hope to build positive relationships with robotaxi companies, and Oakland officials have told the utilities commission they know their city “may be next” for deployment.

To get its permits back for testing and deploying driverless taxis with no human backup, Cruise would have to provide the DMV with information about “how it has addressed the deficiencies that led to the suspensions,” the agency said.

Since August, when the state Public Utilities Commission gave General Motors’ Cruise a green light to take paid fares, there have been numerous reports of the cars’ obstructing emergency vehicles and bottlenecking traffic. San Francisco Board of Supervisors president Aaron Peskin at the time described the autonomous technology on public roads as “a recipe for death” and said the vehicles were “not ready for prime time.”

A Cruise autonomous vehicle follows a Waymo autonomous vehicle up Broadway in San Francisco, Calif., Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023, one week after a state agency gave both Cruise and Ways the green light to begin accepting paid customers. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
A Cruise autonomous vehicle follows a Waymo autonomous vehicle up Broadway in San Francisco, Calif., Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023, one week after a state agency gave both Cruise and Ways the green light to begin accepting paid customers. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group) 

On Tuesday, Peskin applauded the DMV’s move to suspend Cruise’s permits as coming “better late than never.” California never should have allowed their unlimited deployment in the first place, Peskin said.

Cruise spokeswoman Navideh Forghani said Tuesday that the company develops and deploys autonomous vehicles “in an effort to save lives.”

The agency’s suspension order to Cruise focuses on an accident early this month involving a pedestrian hit by another vehicle who then “fell into the path” of one of the company’s robotaxis, which braked hard but ran over the woman, the order said. The car pulled over, dragging the victim 20 feet at 7 miles per hour and possibly injuring her further before stopping, the order said.

“Cruise’s vehicles may lack the ability to respond in a safe and appropriate manner during incidents involving a pedestrian,” the order said.

Cruise representatives the next day showed the DMV footage from the car’s on-board camera, but it did not include the dragging, according to the order. “Cruise did not disclose that any additional movement of the vehicle had occurred,” and the DMV only learned the woman was dragged from another agency, the order said. The DMV requested the additional footage from Cruise and received it 10 days after the initial meeting, according to the order.

Cruise disputed the DMV’s allegation about the video, saying Tuesday that during the initial meeting, it showed the complete footage to the agency representatives multiple times.

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