California authorities on Tuesday revoked the permission of the autonomous vehicle company Cruise to operate its driverless cars, after several accidents in San Francisco. The California Motor Vehicle Agency (DMV) notified the General Motors subsidiary that it was “suspending Cruise’s deployment of autonomous vehicles and driverless test permits, effective immediately,” according to a statement.
The DMV cites an “unreasonable risk to public safety” and specifies that “there is no fixed period for the suspension.”
Cruise can continue testing its vehicles with a safety driver.
“The DMV has provided Cruise with the necessary steps to request reinstatement of its suspended licenses, which the DMV will not approve until the company has completed the required requirements to the department’s satisfaction,” the authority’s statement further states. Earlier this month in San Francisco, a driverless Cruise car struck a pedestrian who had just been hit by another vehicle, driven by a person.
The victim was hospitalized in critical condition, according to firefighters, and Cruise said in a statement about the incident Tuesday that he “expects him to make a full recovery.” The subsidiary points out that “the human driver responsible for the accident has not been found.” “Safety is at the center of everything we do at Cruise: we want to significantly reduce the number of people injured and killed on our roads each year,” Cruise emphasizes. The company did not immediately respond to an AFP request about the suspension of its license.
Cameras and lasers
Loaded with cameras and lidars (detection lasers), autonomous electric taxis from Waymo (Google) and Cruise (General Motors) have invested in San Francisco since last year, sparking increasingly intense debates about the progress they bring and the risks what are they presenting.
In August, the California Transportation Agency granted the two companies permission to expand their paid services in the city. But soon after, highway authorities asked Cruise to halve its fleet in San Francisco (50 cars active during the day and 150 at night) while they investigated two collisions, including one with a fire truck.
Source: BFM TV
