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SAN FRANCISCO – The latest setback for General Motors-owned Cruise has led the self-driving car company to voluntarily recall 950 of its vehicles nationwide after a horrific accident here last month and could lead to layoffs.
The latest developments came after one of Cruise’s self-driving cars failed to recognize a pedestrian who was trapped under its vehicle and dragged her about 20 feet, resulting in serious injuries.
Cruise issued the recall on Tuesday to correct the programming of its entire driverless fleet, saying it would address a “post-collision response” that “could increase the risk of injury.” The company already pulled its entire driverless fleet nationwide last month following the pedestrian accident. One of the driverless cruisers Cars dragged the pedestrian, and the company initially misrepresented what happened during the Oct. 2 crash.
In a filing with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announcing the recall Tuesday, Cruise said the software update would address its “collision detection subsystem” to better determine whether, depending on the type of accident it should remain in place after an accident or move out of traffic during the incident. Unlike a traditional recall, which typically involves hardware, recalls like this one for autonomous vehicles take the form of software updates.
“Cruise has developed a software update that resolves the issue” that caused the pedestrian to be swept away on Oct. 2, the NHTSA filing said. “With the new update, the Cruise AV would have remained stationary during the October 2 incident.”
Cruise said the update was issued to its cars that are still on the road with test drivers. The company said it will “implement the remedial actions” for its driverless fleet before resuming driverless operations, although it is unclear when that will be.
At issue is the Oct. 2 accident in which a circling pedestrian entered a busy intersection in San Francisco and was struck by a human-driven car. The pedestrian rolled onto the windshield for a few moments before being thrown into the path of the driverless car. Footage of the accident, which Cruise originally shared with The Washington Post, other media outlets and the California Department of Motor Vehicles, showed the driverless car stopping as soon as it made contact with the pedestrian.
But a few weeks later, the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) announced that its investigators had found that the car continued to move about 20 feet at 7 miles per hour and the woman was trapped underneath. This maneuver, the DMV said, likely increased the pedestrian’s injuries. The woman remained hospitalized Wednesday, according to a spokesman for the San Francisco Department of Public Health.
In his filing with NHTSA announcing the recall, Cruise said of the software flaw that in certain circumstances, after a collision is detected, the system will automatically attempt to pull the car out of traffic “instead of remaining stationary if.” overtaking is not desired.” Reaction after a collision.”
“This issue could occur following a collision with a pedestrian who is low to the ground in the path of the AV,” the company said.
The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) revoked Cruise’s driverless vehicle license last month after investigators determined the robotaxis posed an “unreasonable risk” to the public in light of the Oct. 2 accident.
In an interview with The Post last month, Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt said criticism of self-driving cars was overblown and that many of the incidents involving his company were “sensational.” But the hardline CEO has changed his mind in recent weeks, telling employees that layoffs are possible as the company tries to restore public trust, according to an audio recording of a Nov. 6 meeting obtained by Forbes.
“We’re still working through what this means for the company and who will be impacted, and we don’t have all the answers yet,” he said, according to the recording obtained by Forbes. “But I can commit to providing further details within the next three weeks. What’s important, then, is that this is not the time to lay off full-time employees; Then we will give you an update on what that timeline might look like.”
A person familiar with Cruise’s plans confirmed the contents of the audio recording.
In a separate blog post on Wednesday, the company also outlined the steps it plans to take following the Oct. 2 crash. Those steps include hiring a chief safety officer and hiring an outside law firm to “better understand Cruise’s response to the October 2 incident, including Cruise’s interactions with law enforcement, regulators and the media.”
“We are committed to creating better cruising, and these initial actions are just some of the steps we are taking as we listen, learn and improve,” the company said in the blog post. “We are committed to keeping our customers, regulators and the public informed throughout this process.”