A controversial driverless car company was blown up after about 10 of its autonomous vehicles broke down and blocked a street in San Francisco.
Just a day after getting the go-ahead to flood the streets of the crime-ridden city with more of his Chevy Bolts, 10 of Cruise’s cars experienced Wi-Fi outages, bringing a street in the North Beach neighborhood to a standstill. came.
The company believes a nearby music festival may have overloaded telecommunications networks.
A woman filming the drama was heard to claim that 10 of the hatchbacks had stopped.
Six were visible in images she shared online blocking the intersection of Grant Avenue and Vallejo Street, crown reported.
A controversial driverless car company is slammed after ten of its vehicles malfunctioned and blocked a street in San Francisco, apparently because their ‘Wi-Fi went down’
A day after getting the green light to bolster the presence of self-driving vehicles in San Francisco, the autonomous car company Cruise hit a setback that brought traffic to a halt in the city
Footage captured by onlookers shows a scene where a fleet of at least six Cruise cars obstructs traffic flow in the North Beach area on Friday night. Eyewitnesses at the scene reported that as many as ten stationary Cruise cars blocked the road
A spokesman for Cruise attributed the unexpected interruption to “wireless connectivity issues” due to the start of Outside Lands, a three-day music festival.
They didn’t elaborate, though major events are known to cause network connectivity issues as telecom companies succumb to the weight of a sudden spike in local usage.
“We are actively investigating and working on solutions to prevent this from happening again and apologize to those affected,” Cruise said.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed took to Twitter to share her thoughts on autonomous vehicles in the city 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.
Addition: “As a city at the forefront of innovation, we are committed to integrating AVs and improving how they can operate safely and effectively in our city.”
A cruise vehicle in San Francisco, California, USA, on Wednesday, February 2, 2022
While she remains committed to their inclusion, she recognized that certain challenges, such as interference with first responders, need to be addressed.
District 3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin expressed his reaction to the incident, expressing concern over the California Public Utilities Commission’s decision to expand the presence of self-driving vehicles.
“Why do state commissioners think it’s okay to endanger people + create traffic chaos on the streets of our neighborhoods? We warned them + they refused to listen,” Peskin tweeted.
The San Francisco Fire Department also expressed strong disagreement over the expansion, noting the potential hazards and disruptions caused by the vehicles on local streets.
“The fire department strongly disagrees with yesterday’s CPUC decision to allow commercial operations by San Francisco’s autonomous vehicle companies,” Captain Jonathan Baxter said in a statement.
“We believe the ruling overlooks the public safety and emergency response concerns we presented to the Commission this week,” he added.
Cruise, a self-driving robot taxi, is seen in San Francisco, California, USA on July 24, 2023.
“The decision allows for industry expansion without solving any of the underlying issues. We don’t believe the industry has any incentive to sit down and solve their problems.’
He claimed that dangerous incidents will not stop or go away, but in fact they are increasing.
The fire department announced their continued support and collaboration with city partners and industry, “as they remain willing to improve street and community safety by improving the robotaxis’ ability to drive safely.”
The department made it clear that while they are not introducing new technology to the city, they will always prioritize the safety of their citizens.
“The San Francisco Fire Department is not against modernization and new technologies, but any vehicle that endangers the people of the city and its visitors and would put its passengers between a fire engine and a fire is not ready for prime time,” he said. the fire department. statement closed.
The incident highlights the ongoing debate about the safe integration of autonomous vehicles in urban environments, prompting local officials and organizations to reassess the implications of their increased production and use.
In June, self-driving car company Cruise came under scrutiny again over a problem caused by their self-driving vehicles.
Cruise was criticized after one of his vehicles appeared to interfere with first responders in San Francisco’s Mission District Friday night.
The autonomous vehicles unexpectedly stopped in the middle of the road, obstructing the passage of other vehicles, in the video sent to KRON4
The video showed a self-driving car stopping in the middle of the road near 24th and Folsom streets, blocking the road to the scene of a mass shooting nearby.
The shooting in the city’s mission district on Friday night left nine people injured in an attack that law enforcement officials called “targeted” in what is the latest regrettable incident in the crime-ridden city.
In early August, a journalist said a ride in a self-driving car called “Peaches” turned into a dystopian nightmare after the vehicle accelerated and refused to let him out.
Associated Press technical reporter Michael Liedtke was picked up outside a San Francisco bar last September by the self-driving Chevrolet Bolt, called Peaches.
Liedtke said the half-hour journey, operated by the Cruise company, was smooth until a “twist” left him fearful the experience would be something he would regret.
In a report, Liedtke said that as he approached his destination, Peaches began accelerating and drove off in the opposite direction.
After frantically calling the Cruise support center, they told him that Peaches had gone haywire and after the car took him back to the destination, it did the same.
San Francisco police responded to a shooting in the Mission District on Friday, shooting nine people in what authorities say was a targeted shooting
Associated Press technical reporter Michael Liedtke is pictured here in Peaches last September
The empty driver’s seat is shown in a self-driving Chevy Bolt car called Peaches with Associated Press reporter Michael Liedtke
As of this week, the California Public Utilities Commission declared that robotaxis can operate 24/7 in San Francisco, including self-driving car companies Waymo and Cruise.
Waymo operates a fleet of electric Jaguar EVs that are also common on the streets of the tech capital.
Previously, autonomous vehicles were only allowed to drive in the city during the night hours, between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., without a safety permit.
Earlier this week, an NBC report revealed that self-driving car companies were looking to expand in San Francisco despite concerns the technology lacks guardrails
San Francisco is the “fiercest battlefield in the debate over autonomous vehicles and whether they can safely coexist on the streets,” the article writes.
In the state of California, at least 41 companies currently operate more than 2,000 autonomous vehicles in California.
And while most have test drivers inside who can get around the cars when necessary, hundreds of vehicles on the road currently have no one behind the wheel.
Some are challenging the companies, claiming it’s time to put the brakes on the emerging technology.