General Motors’ autonomous driving unit, Cruise, recently issued an over-the-air (OTA) recall of 300 of its robotaxis, following a low-speed collision with a municipal bus in San Francisco. Although the collision resulted in no injuries, the incident was a cause for concern, and the company has taken steps to rectify the problem and prevent future incidents from happening.
According to Cruise, the robotaxi incorrectly predicted the movement of the articulated bus, which behaves differently from standard buses in certain situations, as it left a bus stop on March 23rd. As a result, the robotaxi collided with the bus at low speed.
Cruise has referred to the incident as a “fender-bender,” but the OTA recall is a necessary step towards transparency and addressing the issue of articulated buses’ behavior.
“We quickly determined the bus’s behavior was reasonable and predictable. It pulled out into a lane of traffic from a bus stop and then came to a stop. Although our car did brake in response, it applied the brakes too late and rear-ended the bus at about 10 mph. We identified the root cause, which was a unique error related to predicting the movement of articulated vehicles (i.e., vehicles with two sections connected by a flexible joint, allowing them to bend in the middle) like the bus involved in this incident,” Cruise stated on Friday.
The company further stated that the software update to fix the issue was completed on March 25th, and there have been no further accidents related to this specific problem. However, Cruise’s co-founder and CEO, Kyle Vogt, emphasized that even a single incident like this was worthy of immediate and careful study.
“Fender-benders like this rarely happen to our AVs, but this incident was unique. We do not expect our vehicles to run into the back of a city bus under any conditions, so even a single incident like this was worthy of immediate and careful study,” Vogt said.
The OTA recall serves as a reminder that even the most advanced technologies are not immune to occasional faults, and Cruise’s quick response to the incident is a testament to its commitment to safety and transparency. By addressing the issue head-on and taking measures to prevent similar incidents from happening, Cruise has demonstrated that the safety of passengers and other road users is its top priority.
Hey @Cruise come get your guy Souffle pic.twitter.com/n10NMQloVA
— bauer (@d_bau13) March 23, 2023
