iNDICA NEWS BUREAU-
Bowing to growing public safety concerns after a woman pedestrian was trapped under an autonomous car in San Francisco on October 2 night, the California Department of Motor Vehicles suspended Cruise’s autonomous vehicle deployment and driverless testing permits on October 24.
Earlier the California Department of Motor Vehicles had issued a permit to Cruise LLC, authorizing the company to test driverless vehicles on public roads in San Francisco. While Cruise had state authority to test autonomous vehicles with safety drivers since 2015, the new permit allowed the company to test five autonomous vehicles without a driver behind the wheel on specified streets within San Francisco. The vehicles were designed to operate on roads with speed limits not exceeding 30 miles per hour, during all times of the day and night, but not during heavy fog or heavy rain.
But all that changed when a woman got injured after being struck by a car that “launched” her in front of a Cruise autonomous car in San Francisco on October 2, night. Police said that at 9:31 p.m., officers responded to 5th and Market Streets and discovered a female pedestrian trapped under a Cruise vehicle. San Francisco Fire Department officials had to use the “jaws of life” to lift the car off of the woman, who was trapped underneath. The victim was transported to SF General Hospital with multiple traumatic injuries.
A statement issued by Cruise claimed that another driver had hit the woman, sending her into the path of the Cruise, before leaving the scene. “The AV braked aggressively to minimize the impact. The driver of the other vehicle fled the scene, and at the request of the police the AV was kept in place. Our heartfelt concern and focus are the wellbeing of the person who was injured and we are actively working with police to help identify the responsible driver,” Cruise said in the statement posted on social media site – X.
“Public safety remains the California DMV’s top priority, and the department’s autonomous vehicle regulations provide a framework to facilitate the safe testing and deployment of this technology on California public roads. When there is an unreasonable risk to public safety, the DMV can immediately suspend or revoke permits. There is no set time for a suspension,” the DMV said in a statement quoted by ABC7News in a report.
The department notified Cruise that its autonomous vehicle deployment and driverless testing permits have been suspended effective immediately. “The DMV has provided Cruise with the steps needed to apply to reinstate its suspended permits, which the DMV will not approve until the company has fulfilled the requirements to the department’s satisfaction. This decision does not impact the company’s permit for testing with a safety driver,” the DMV statement added.
“We learned today at 10:30 am PT of the California DMV’s suspension of our driverless permits. As a result, we will be pausing operations of our driverless AVs in San Francisco. Ultimately, we develop and deploy autonomous vehicles in an effort to save lives. In the incident being reviewed by the DMV, a human hit-and-run driver tragically struck and propelled the pedestrian into the path of the AV. The AV braked aggressively before impact and because it detected a collision, it attempted to pull over to avoid further safety issues. When the AV tried to pull over, it continued before coming to a final stop, pulling the pedestrian forward. Our thoughts continue to be with the victim as we hope for a rapid and complete recovery,” a Cruise spokesperson said in a statement. “Our teams are currently doing an analysis to identify potential enhancements to the AV’s response to this kind of extremely rare event.”
[photo credit: https://getcruise.com]
