After two crashes: US transportation authority investigating robotaxi company Cruise

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US traffic authority NHTSA has launched a preliminary investigation that will, among other things, clarify whether vehicles, some of which are fully driverless, are getting too close to people. In an accident at the beginning of October, a woman was pinned under the Cruise robotaxi and had to be rescued by rescue crews. According to the accident report, the pedestrian was first hit by another vehicle with a person at the steering wheel and was thrown in front of the driverless car. The driverless vehicle immediately braked but could no longer avoid the collision.

NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) cited another incident. According to documents, a navigational robotaxi drove into an intersection with a traffic light in late August with the green light on and a pedestrian stepped in front of the vehicle at the same time. The software tried to escape and brake. However, the car still hit the pedestrian at a speed of approximately 2 kilometers per hour.

San Francisco is currently a unique test case for driverless taxis. General Motors subsidiary Cruise and Google’s sister company Waymo operate in the city. They received permission from a California regulator over the summer to expand driverless transportation services citywide. The city government and many residents were against it. Among other things, they argued that software-controlled vehicles often blocked traffic and thus hindered rescue workers during operations. Companies emphasize that robot cars drive safer than humans.

The only known fatal accident involving a driverless car occurred in the US state of Arizona in 2018. A car from ride-hailing company Uber hit a woman crossing the road during an evening test drive. He was pushing a bike with plastic bags on the handlebars next to him, which put the Uber software in a difficult position when it initially failed to properly classify what he was dealing with. Uber stopped developing its own driverless vehicles at the end of 2020.

(SDA)

Source :Blick