Pushing THEIR buttons! Texas drivers are left furious as 20 Cruise self-driving cars cause gridlock in Austin – as company blames pedestrian traffic
This is the moment more than a dozen malfunctioning self-driving cars caused a traffic jam on a major city street, infuriating drivers in Texas.
Shocking footage from Austin showed about 20 Cruises-driven Chevrolet Bolts causing chaos on Saturday evening.
“Are you telling me they can’t get out of here?” In the video, a driver could be heard screaming.
“Not one is human,” another was heard saying, shocked by the number of self-driving cars on the streets.
It is not known what caused the traffic jam or why the cars got stuck, but a Cruise spokesperson hinted at pedestrian traffic as the problem.
A dozen malfunctioning self-driving cars caused a traffic jam on a major city street, infuriating drivers in Texas
Cars were stuck on the road, facing each other as Cruise employees tried to operate them via remote control
About 20 Cruises-driven Chevrolet Bolts blocked the street as the company hinted that pedestrian traffic was the problem
“Pedestrian and car traffic on the streets was busy. Our cars are designed first and foremost to prioritize safety – and that includes being careful around pedestrians,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
‘We were able to tackle it and all vehicles left the area autonomously. We apologize for any inconvenience,” the spokesperson said.
A similar incident occurred earlier this week when a cruise vehicle stopped abruptly at an intersection.
But Michael Staples, CEO of Cruise, believes self-driving cars are really needed.
“We don’t drink or drive, we don’t get tired and we follow the rules,” Staples said KXAN last month that autonomous cars are safer than humans.
Self-driving cars were often seen at crosswalks, traffic lights and intersections in Austin, Texas, where about 125 self-driving vehicles were operating
Autonomous cars in Austin have long tested drivers’ patience
Michael Staples (pictured), Cruise’s general manager, emphasized in his interview with KXAN that self-driving cars are really needed
According to a report, there are about 125 autonomous cars in Austin memo of the Transport, Public Works and Water Management department.
They were seen stuck at crosswalks, traffic lights and intersections as they drove away Austin drivers frustrated.
The country’s technology center isn’t the only place struggling with unmanned traffic jams. Cruise has had a bad reputation in San Francisco, where all kinds of incidents involving self-driving cars took place.
Last month, 10 Cruise cars brought a street in the North Beach neighborhood to a standstill, just a day after giving the green light to flood the crime-ridden city’s streets with more Chevy Bolts.
The company believes a nearby music festival may have overloaded telecommunications networks.
A woman filming the drama could be heard claiming that ten of the hatchbacks had stopped.
Two days after the incident, a report revealed that San Francisco citizens are having sex in the city’s self-driving taxis.
The San Francisco Standard interviewed four individuals who admitted to committing the act – within the atypical confines of the city’s growing fleet of autonomous taxis.
The principles included rendezvous so stupid that the cars’ deliberately fishbowl-shaped windows fogged up, and behavior so brazen that real, breathing motorists witnessed it.
A cruise vehicle in San Francisco, California, USA, on Wednesday, February 2, 2022
Participants who spoke to the newspaper did so anonymously, on the condition that the exact dates of the riders’ debauchery would be redacted.
The report comes hours after California opted to eliminate restrictions that required the vehicles to operate only at night, and shows how such behavior was previously common.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed shared her thoughts on autonomous vehicles in the city on Twitter ahead of the setback.
“Autonomous vehicles are an important part of the future of transportation, not just in San Francisco but around the world,” she wrote in the tweet.
Adding: ‘As a city that leads the way in innovation, we want to integrate AVs and improve how they can operate safely and effectively in our city.’