A quarter of employees have to leave their jobs: Mass layoffs at robotaxi company in the USA

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As a result, 24 percent of full-time jobs, mostly in non-technical fields, will disappear, according to an email sent to employees on Thursday (local time). In the accident that occurred at the beginning of October, the driverless Cruise car dragged a woman for meters.

The pedestrian had previously been hit by another vehicle with a human at the steering wheel and was thrown in front of the driverless car. According to the accident report, the robotaxi immediately braked, but the woman still fell under the vehicle.

Cruise vehicles are programmed to automatically move to the side of the road after a collision in some cases, without obstructing traffic. In this case, the software decided to do this even though the woman was still under the car. It was dragged about six meters and the car reached a speed of about eleven kilometers per hour, according to a report from the California traffic authority.

Cruise is avoiding putting the first vehicles of its “Origin” robotaxis on the roads without a steering wheel or pedals, as planned next year. Instead, Cruise wants to continue relying on cars converted from the GM electric model Chevy Bolt. Operations will initially restart in only one city. In addition to San Francisco, the cruise has visited five more U.S. cities and plans to add a dozen more next year.

San Francisco became a unique test case for driverless taxis last year. In addition to Cruise, Google’s sister company Waymo also received permission from a California regulator this summer to expand driverless transportation services citywide.

The city government and many residents were against it. Among other things, they argued that vehicles often obstructed traffic. Waymo is allowed to continue offering its robotaxi service throughout San Francisco without a safety driver behind the wheel.

(SDA)

Source :Blick