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Cruise had provided training to Austin firefighters on how to get inside the Chevy Bolt and drive the vehicle. But a Cruise employee, speaking to an Austin firefighter remotely, refused to grant them permission. The employee said they couldn't verify the uniformed firefighters were actually firefighters and not civilians.
Robotaxi Traffic Jam Immediately Following 24/7 Robotaxi Approval — But What’s The Big Picture?
Self-driving taxis cause massive traffic jam in Texas - Yahoo News UK
Self-driving taxis cause massive traffic jam in Texas.
Posted: Thu, 21 Sep 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Moreover, the dearth of viable north-south routes through the city and an unplanned detour from an alternative route resulted in several robotaxis converging on the same beleaguered thoroughfare. Cruise’s efforts to manually reroute the vehicles proved too slow, exacerbating the traffic jam. However, once alerted to the situation, Cruise promptly took control and autonomously guided all their electric vehicles out of the congested area. Cruise is far from the only autonomous car company testing in Austin.
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The region, which has been a testbed of self-driving technology, is currently being used by Waymo and Volkswagen to test its vehicles. All three council members expressed concerns related to public safety, complaints from the community and the city’s inability to regulate the vehicles. ““We think it’s the right thing to do during a period when we need to be extra vigilant when it comes to risk, relentlessly focused on safety, & taking steps to rebuild public trust,” the company said. Concerns over the vehicles driving recklessly through downtown were raised after videos on social media showed cars stopping in the middle of traffic and swerving into bike lanes. AUSTIN, Texas — Austin is now looking into regulating driverless vehicles on city streets. The city says it has no record of anyone being hurt by an autonomous vehicle in Austin.
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Last month, approximately 10 vehicles locked traffic on Vallejo Street in San Francisco. The most famous incident of Cruise vehicles randomly gathered together occurred in July last year when over a dozen prototypes stopped near an intersection, also in San Francisco. On Thursday evening, the company said it was proactively pausing driverless operations across its other locations. Cruise, which has been offering driverless rideshare in Austin since last year, also offers rideshare services in Houston and Phoenix, and previously San Francisco. On the evening of Saturday, Sept. 30, firefighters responded to a Cruise vehicle stopped in the road and blocking traffic. The screen in the vehicle said a crash had occurred, according to an incident report.
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Earlier this month, the department issued a memo noting that "Texas cities cannot regulate autonomous vehicles" as their authority is preempted by state law. The permit suspension only impacted the company’s ability to operate fully autonomously. Many have claimed there will be less traffic and less driving because fewer people will own cars. Also, if we are not the one having to drive, we can do things like watch live sports or Netflix or whatever and are more willing to accept growing traffic. I have a hard time determining what is better — there are pros and cons to the robotaxis of 2023, and there are pros and cons to the broader vision of a widespread robotaxi revolution. AUSTIN (KXAN) — On a busy Saturday night near the University of Texas at Austin campus, a UT student caught a unique traffic jam on camera — at least 20 Cruise driverless cars at San Gabriel and 23rd streets.
The California DMV accused Cruise of not disclosing or showing full footage of the incident, including its pullover maneuver, according to the USAToday report. Other reported incidents depict time-consuming responses to unusual situations. Cruise vehicles will no longer be on Austin streets – at least for now. Our expanded ODD will help to reduce concentration of vehicles and provide more services to the places customers want to be.
They acknowledged the inconvenience caused by the congestion and laid out their plans to expand the Operational Design Domain (ODD) to reduce vehicle density in high-demand areas and enhance service quality. The city was also previously being used by Ford and Argo AI to test self-driving technology including rideshare and delivery services, before Argo AI shut down last year. The California-based company, which is a subsidiary of General Motors, announced the change Thursday evening in a post on X, formerly Twitter. The announcement came just two days after the company paused services in California after the California Department of Motor Vehicles suspended the company’s testing and deployment permits. "The industry's going to have to do a lot more diligence to get us to a place where these vehicles can safely operate," said Council Member Zo Qadri, whose downtown district has been a hot spot for Cruise complaints.
Even though Cruise is voluntarily taking driverless vehicles off Austin's streets, the halt is only temporary. Austin officials said residents complained about the cars not operating properly. The company’s suspension follows the launch of a federal investigation into incidents with pedestrians in San Francisco. This is not the first time that Cruise vehicles have caused a traffic jam like this.
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The department has since reached out to equivalent bodies in Phoenix, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington D.C. A host of autonomous prototypes deployed by Cruise in Austin, Texas have been captured on film stuck in the middle of a street in what looks like some kind of twisted, dystopian traffic jam. Friday morning, a Cruise spokesperson confirmed rideshare was paused in Austin. The Cruise app also read "We've temporarily paused our service," with an option to be notified once it restarted. So firefighters couldn't roll the vehicle out of the intersection. Cruise emphasized the decision to suspend AV operations "isn't related to any new on-road incidents."
He pointed to Cruise's tendency to avoid larger streets, special events, higher volume traffic and inclement weather. City data showed more pedestrians and cyclists were killed or seriously injured in crashes in 2022 than in any other recorded year, as they launched "Vision Zero" in an effort to reduce the number of people hurt or killed in crashes. Austin's mayor pro tem, Paige Ellis, called the issue a matter of "public trust."
This isn't the first time that Cruise vehicles have drawn the ire of untrusting residents. Back in January, a driverless car was observed turning into a bike lane. And during another incident, cars were observed treating small residential neighborhoods as throughways. While legal, it caused an unnecessary nuisance to residents who told KXAN that they'd seen as many as 25 cars in a 20-minute span. In essence, while the recent Austin traffic snarl involving Cruise’s robotaxis was a minor hiccup for some commuters, it underscores the complexities of integrating autonomous vehicles into bustling urban landscapes.
Self-driving cars cause humungous traffic jam as none of them move - UNILAD
Self-driving cars cause humungous traffic jam as none of them move.
Posted: Wed, 20 Sep 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Residents in Austin, Texas are fed up with Cruise-induced traffic jams—just like Californians. Despite these challenges, companies like Cruise have made remarkable strides in expanding their fleets beyond their Silicon Valley origins, with Austin, Texas, being one of their recent ventures. However, this expansion has not been without its teething problems, as evidenced by the recent traffic snarl in Austin. The DMV’s dispute with the company relates to an Oct. 2 hit and run incident, after which the DMV accused Cruise of withholding information about. Qadri, along with Council Members Paige Ellis and Vanessa Fuentes, received a briefing on self-driving vehicle activity Friday afternoon during the committee meeting.
The bill also set minimum safety standards for self-driving cars operating in Texas. The legislation, Senate Bill 2205, was celebrated by General Motors at the time. In 2017, the Texas Legislature passed a law preventing local officials from making their own rules like requiring companies to register or pay fees. But first responders were increasingly alarmed at the behavior of the driverless vehicles, records obtained under the Texas Public Information Act show. "We do have a lot of interest in Austin," Rachel Castignoli, a city official monitoring autonomous vehicle companies, said of competing firms. Cruise has also been the subject of a federal probe from the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration examining if the self-driving vehicles are using appropriate precautions around pedestrians.
"It is very alarming with how close the [Cruise] vehicles are getting," a firefighter wrote on Sept. 2. "The Cruise vehicle's actions are not predictable and there is no mutual communication with them." Austin's first responders grappled with how to manage Cruise's robot cars and their "alarming" behavior, records obtained by KUT show. Learn about The Texas Tribune’s policies, including our partnership with The Trust Project to increase transparency in news. But I think having a conversation with our state, you know, counterparts is extremely important for me, for them to kind of raise the alarm bells on this. And I think it’s extremely important for constituents,” said Qadri.
Qadri is working with fellow council members to address the issues in the Austin Mobility Committee next month. One of many recent posts that caught the attention of Austin City Council Member Zo Qadri. “From a pedestrian in West Campus, they’re not great to interact with. But I mean, I’m sure at some point, the technology will get there,” said Prada. We fully recognize the inconvenience, and we’ve taken proactive measures to relieve the crowding in the area.
The pedestrian was then launched in front of an autonomous Cruise vehicle which braked but still collided with the pedestrian, and then pulled over after stopping, dragging the pedestrian forward about 20 feet. As of Wednesday, the Austin Transportation and Public Works Department had received 42 complaints about Cruise vehicles since July. None of those incidents have resulted in injury, the department said. Unfortunately, more and more Cruise robotaxis flooded the narrow Austin street to meet the peak demand, only to join in the traffic jam. Cruise states that at the time, there were limited routes going north and south through the city, and a detour from an alternative route led the EVs to the same doomed parkway.
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