Cruise pauses driverless vehicle operations across US amid safety probe | Fox Business
Cruise, the self-driving car company, has made the decision to temporarily halt the operations of its autonomous fleet. This pause comes in the wake of a suspension imposed by the California Department of Motor Vehicles.
In an official announcement made on Thursday evening, Cruise disclosed its immediate suspension of autonomous operations across Texas and the entire United States. This action follows the suspension enacted by the California Department of Motor Vehicles, which was announced on Tuesday. Cruise, a subsidiary of General Motors with a primary focus on self-driving vehicles, including both supervised and fully autonomous models, expressed a commitment to rebuilding public trust.
Cruise conveyed, “Our utmost priority at this moment is to take proactive measures to regain the trust of the public. This endeavor involves a thorough internal examination of our operations at Cruise, even if it entails embarking on uncomfortable or challenging paths.”
In the same spirit, Cruise has chosen to proactively halt autonomous operations across all its fleets, dedicating time to scrutinize their processes, systems, and tools. This introspective approach aims to redefine their operations to inspire public trust.
Importantly, Cruise clarified, “This decision is not a result of any recent on-road incidents. Supervised autonomous vehicle operations will continue. We firmly believe this is the right course of action during a period where we must exercise increased vigilance concerning risks, maintain an unwavering focus on safety, and take the necessary steps to rebuild public trust.”
Cruise faced an indefinite suspension from the California Department of Motor Vehicles, covering both their testing and deployment permits for autonomous robotaxis. This suspension was imposed last Tuesday and occurred in the midst of an ongoing investigation into an incident involving one of their vehicles earlier this month.
Both the state of California and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have launched investigations into an incident in early October. In this incident, a human driver struck a pedestrian while crossing the street. The impact launched the pedestrian into the path of a Cruise robotaxi in an adjacent lane. Unfortunately, the autonomous vehicle couldn’t stop in time to avoid the pedestrian and came to a halt on top of the pedestrian. First responders rescued the pedestrian and transported them to a nearby trauma center.
Prior to this incident, the California Department of Motor Vehicles had already initiated an investigation in August into other “recent concerning incidents” involving Cruise vehicles in San Francisco. This investigation led to a request for Cruise to remove half of their robotaxis from the road—a request that the company complied with.
In a separate safety probe, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) initiated an investigation into Cruise’s autonomous driving system in December. This came after a series of rear-end crashes involving Cruise vehicles. The agency expressed concerns about the vehicles potentially engaging in overly aggressive braking or becoming immobilized.
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