A cruise robotic taxi operating without a safety driver recently collided with a San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (Muni) bus. There were no reported injuries. While the bus sustained minor damage, damage to the cruise vehicle’s front bumper was more severe.
At the time of the incident, the cruise robotaxi was not carrying any passengers. GM’s self-driving unit issued a brief statement on the incident: “Yesterday one of our vehicles struck the rear of a Muni bus. No injuries were reported and there were no passengers present on the Cruise AV. We are investigating the incident and will take follow-up action if necessary.”
Based on Cruise’s comment and a photo of the incident, it appears that the robotaxi overtook the bus at a relatively slow speed. An image of the accident shared on social media shows that the robotaxi is still in contact with the bus. The impact also happened just past a bus stop, further suggesting the collision likely happened at low speeds, as indicated in a Forbes report. The cruise vehicle’s airbags also did not appear to have deployed, as shown in the photo.
This incident underscores the need for Cruise to further optimize its San Francisco robotaxi fleet for real-world use. One could conclude that the robo-taxis’ sensors would have detected the Muni-Bus and should therefore have stopped before the collision.
In a recent separate incident, a cruise robotic taxi encountered fallen trolley wires during a storm. The vehicle drove through “caution” cordon tape blocking a road and struck dead wires. While twisted warning tape can be difficult for sensors like LIDAR and radar systems to detect, overhead wires are thicker and likely far more visible.
Although recent storms in San Francisco have presented challenges, it is safe to assume that Cruise simulated such scenarios during the training and testing processes of its robotic taxis. The Muni-Bus and trolley wire incidents underscore the importance of field testing and edge-case training for robo-taxis to ensure their safe operation. This is something other companies also pursuing robotaxi technology — like Waymo and Tesla — should really emphasize.
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