Up to 10 autonomous taxis operated by Cruise came to a halt in the North Beach area of San Francisco on Friday evening. This technological mishap resulted in traffic congestion and raised doubts among numerous individuals regarding the wisdom of state authorities’ choice to grant permission for wider implementation of self-driving taxis.
Merely a day after California’s Public Utilities Commission gave the green light for Waymo and Cruise to offer 24/7 driverless taxi services in San Francisco, a number of Cruise vehicles caused significant traffic disruptions. Supervisor Aaron Peskin remarked that the incident unfolded as “traffic chaos” caused by these vehicles emerged.
Peskin, who represents District 3, shared a video on Saturday morning via Twitter, depicting a minimum of five Cruise vehicles with their hazard lights activated, contributing to a state of gridlock. An eyewitness reported that the occurrence took place at the intersection of Grant and Columbus Avenues, as well as Vallejo Street.
Well, here are about ten @cruise driverless vehicles stopping traffic dead on Grant Avenue and spilling over to Columbus Avenue and Vallejo Street. I donβt remember voting for this. Do you? @SFFDPIO pic.twitter.com/C9ow7lWD0m
— π Έπβπ π ΅ππ Έππ ²π ΎοΈ (@Gregster56) August 12, 2023
“Why do state commissioners think it’s OK to put people in danger + create traffic chaos on our neighborhood streets? We warned them + they refused to listen,” Peskin tweeted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Cruise explained in a statement that a “major incident” triggered “wireless connectivity issues,” leading to a delay in establishing proper communication with their vehicles.
“We are actively investigating and working on solutions to prevent this from happening again and apologize to those impacted,” Cruise’s statement.
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