Cruise told by regulators to ‘immediately’ reduce robotaxi fleet 50% following crash | TechCrunch

Cruise, the self-driving automobile subsidiary of GM, has been requested to cut back its robotaxi fleet by 50% in San Francisco following a crash Thursday night time with a hearth truck.

The California Division of Motor Automobiles, the company that regulates the testing and deployment of autonomous autos within the state, requested the discount in operations. The state company stated it’s investigating “current regarding incidents” involving Cruise autos in San Francisco. It referred to as for Cruise to cut back its fleet by 50% and have not more than 50 driverless autos in operation in the course of the day and 150 driverless autos in operation at night time till the investigation is full.

“Security of the touring public is the California DMV’s high precedence,” the DMV stated in an announcement issued Friday night, including that it has the suitable, following the investigation to droop or revoke testing and/or deployment permits if it determines there’s an unreasonable threat to public security. “The first focus of the DMV’s rules is the protected operation of autonomous autos and security of the general public who share the highway with these autos.”

Cruise informed TechCrunch it’s complying with the request. Cruise additionally issued a blog post giving the corporate’s perspective of how and why the crash occurred.

“Over 100 individuals lose their lives day-after-day on American roadways, and numerous others are badly injured, Cruise stated in an announcement despatched by way of electronic mail. “We imagine it’s clear that Cruise positively impacts total highway security, and stay up for working with the CA DMV to make any enhancements and supply any knowledge they should reinforce the security and effectivity of our fleet.”

Cruise has had a sequence of snafus, together with at the very least 10 of its driverless cars reportedly stalling and blocking site visitors, which threatens to derail its industrial plans. The string of glitches come only a week after winning approval from the California Public Utilities Fee to increase industrial operations in San Francisco.

The CPUC, the company that regulates ride-hailing operations together with these involving robotaxis, accepted Cruise and Waymo on August 10 for closing permits that permit the businesses to function 24 hours a day, seven days every week, increase their fleets and cost for rides all through the town.

The most recent Cruise incident occurred Thursday night time when a Cruise robotaxi and an emergency car crashed and left a passenger injured. Cruise stated in a social media publish that one in every of its self-driving Chevy Bolt EVs entered an intersection on a inexperienced site visitors gentle at Polk and Turk streets when it was struck by an emergency car that seemed to be en path to an emergency scene.

Earlier this week, the San Francisco Metropolis Lawyer David Chiu filed motions with the CPUC to pause Cruise and Waymo’s plans to cost for robotaxi rides within the metropolis in any respect hours. Chiu’s arguments parallel feedback made by residents and different metropolis officers throughout a public listening to forward of the CPUC’s vote.