The crash occurred after the Cruise robotaxi was making a left turn and stopped at the intersection, thinking an oncoming vehicle would turn in front of it. But the oncoming vehicle drove straight and hit the Cruise vehicle. Both the San Francisco Police Department and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launched investigations.
Cruise said the oncoming vehicle was traveling in the right turn lane and traveling at “approximately 40 mph” in a 25 mph lane before exiting the lane and pulling ahead. Cruise acknowledged in his retirement presentation that his robotaxi was not “reactive enough.” Cruise spokeswoman Hannah Lindow declined to say what the Cruise vehicle could have done differently and declined to release video of the crash.
However, Cruise said in a statement that he made the withdrawal “in the interest of transparency for the public.”
Cruise said in a document detailing the recall that it has already released a software update that it says improves the robotaxis’ ability to predict what other vehicles will do, even under conditions similar to the crash.
Tesla, arguably a long-term cruiser competitor, has been criticized in the past for making software updates to its vehicles even though it doesn’t always issue a recall. NHTSA has been more proactive in recalls of late, and Tesla issued four recalls in a 12-day period earlier this year. Software updates like the one Cruise did, often called “over-the-air updates,” are generally not a financial burden on companies. as traditional recalls have been, because there are no costs for the physical parts and labor to install them.
“Automated driving developers are constantly revising their software, including to address potential safety issues,” Bryant Walker Smith, a University of South Carolina Law School professor who researches autonomous vehicles, told CNN Business. “It is to the company’s credit that they have treated this security-relevant update as a recall under federal law.”
Cruise continued to operate his robotaxi service in San Francisco after the accident. But at some point after the crash, which Cruise did not disclose, he disabled his vehicles’ ability to make unprotected left turns and reduced the area in which his robotaxis operated. Cruise has been gradually reintroducing unprotected left turns since its July 6 software update. An unprotected left turn is a turn where there is no left turn signal to indicate when it is time for a vehicle to pass.
Unprotected left turns are generally considered one of the most difficult things for a fully autonomous vehicle to do. Waymo’s robotaxis in Arizona, for example, sometimes avoids such turns to help minimize risks. Cruise became the second company to offer a fully autonomous ride-hailing service when it launched in San Francisco in February, but only during nighttime hours. The collision that prompted the recall occurred at 11 p.m., according to Cruise’s report filed with the California Department of Motor Vehicles. Cruise’s robotaxis have delighted some passengers but have also had shortcomings, including technical glitches and glitches such as the blocking of a fire truck responding to a fire alarm this April, according to the San Francisco Fire Department . Photos have also surfaced of a group of cruiser vehicles blocking lanes on a San Francisco street.
Developing and operating robotaxis is extremely difficult and expensive. Cruise has added shareholders in addition to GM, including Honda, Microsoft and Walmart. Cruise lost $500 million in the second quarter of this year, according to GM’s financial filings.
GM CEO Mary Barra said last month that the market for robotaxis would likely be several billion dollars once robotaxis rides are available for $1 a mile, cheaper than Uber and Lyft boosted by humans, which are often several dollars per mile and sometimes more.
“It’s going to be a big part of how we move from point A to point B because it’s safer,” Barra told Fox Business.
NHTSA does not have performance standards for fully autonomous vehicles like Cruise’s, but has said it will proceed with recalls as needed.