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Now Cruise appears to be going back to basics, a sharp pivot away from the aggressive growth strategy the company has been pursuing for the last few years. In 2022, former Cruise CEO and co-founder Kyle Vogt — who stepped down amid last year’s controversy — told investors that Cruise had “de-risked the technical approach” by applying what worked well in San Francisco to similar ride-share markets.
Accelerating AV Development
The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on October 16 opened an investigation into Cruise vehicles after receiving reports of two pedestrian injuries, including the October 2 incident. The Cruise cars "may not have exercised appropriate caution around pedestrians in the roadway," the agency said. The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) last month suspended Cruise's permits for autonomous vehicle deployment and driverless testing. Cruise subsequently announced a "pause" of all of its driverless operations in the US, which includes San Francisco, Austin, Phoenix, Houston, Dallas, and Miami. Cruise was expected to launch a ride-hailing service for the public in San Francisco in 2019. It has been operating an employee ride-hailing service with a current fleet of autonomous vehicles in San Francisco for several years.
Family is still waiting on Cruise response five months after filing complaint
Last month, one of its driverless Chevy Bolt vehicles collided with a firetruck in the city, leaving one passenger injured. Cruise agreed to reduce its fleet by half while the incident was under investigation. Over the past several weeks we have communicated directly with officials, first responders, and community leaders in cities we’ve previously operated in to share updates on our path forward. We are committed to safely deploying our technology in close collaboration with officials and communities at every step. We’re reintroducing a small fleet of manually-operated vehicles to begin mapping with trained safety drivers behind the wheel.
Incidents
We believe driverless technology has the potential to save lives, enhance access and improve communities. On Saturday, one day before resigning, Vogt reportedly apologized to staff in an email. "As CEO, I take responsibility for the situation Cruise is in today. There are no excuses, and there is no sugar coating what has happened. We need to double down on safety, transparency, and community engagement," he wrote in the email quoted by Reuters.
For specific scenarios that Cruise hasn’t been able to collect in real-world road conditions, there’s Morpheus. Morpheus is a system that can generate simulations based on specific locations on the map. It uses machine learning to automatically enter as many parameters as it wants to generate thousands of interesting and rare scenarios against which it tests the AV.
Cruise is in danger of becoming GM's latest trendy venture that doesn't pay off - CNBC
Cruise is in danger of becoming GM's latest trendy venture that doesn't pay off.
Posted: Fri, 15 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]
General Motors' Cruise self-driving vehicle unit will redeploy cars on U.S. roadways Tuesday for the first time since October, beginning with a small fleet of human-driven vehicles in Phoenix, the company said. Cruise says it has taken the issue of accessibility seriously since day one, hiring a full-time accessibility program manager for its fleet of driverless cars in San Francisco. Cruise says it built the Origin, its first purpose-built AV, with modularity in mind. From the low floor and high roof to the double-wide doors and removable seats, Cruise views the Origin as a blank canvas that it can modify with customer feedback.
"That will continue to take shape over the balance of this year and next, but where it really starts to scale up is when the Cruise Origin begins production and goes into high volume," Ammann said at the Financial Times Future of the Car virtual conference. Learn how our data visualization tool shaped the future of autonomous driving. Learn the basics of how a Cruise car navigates city streets safely and efficiently. The company was accused by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority and several other government agencies of failing to offer service in low-income and minority areas or accommodate people using wheelchairs. Indeed, advocates from the disability community have voiced their support for AV development at many crucial moments, most recently testifying in favor of Cruise and Waymo’s application to the state of California for expanded robotaxi service.
Self-driving Cruise vehicle accused of nearly hitting kids in two separate close calls one day apart
Even as Cruise expanded to new cities in the second half of 2023, its robotaxis were routinely malfunctioning in cities like San Francisco and Austin, disrupting the flow of traffic, public transit and first responders. General Motors’ Cruise is redeploying robotaxis in Phoenix after nearly five months of paused operations, the company said in a blog post. The vehicle is a version of Cruise’s fully driverless, shuttle-sized Origin vehicles, which lack traditional controls like steering wheel and pedals. It has been modified to include a retractable ramp, as well as added space inside and floor clamps for wheelchair users.
The family says the driverless Cruise car headed straight toward them as they crossed the street. The Origin is the company's first vehicle specifically designed to operate without a driver on board. The San Francisco-based company, of which GM owns about 80%, said it will "act on all" recommendations and is "fully cooperating" with investigations by state and federal agencies following the Oct. 2 accident. Notably, Cruise is calling its approach “multi-generational,” meaning it intends to update the design based on feedback from users. “Designing a self-driving vehicle that accommodates as many wheelchair users as possible is a distinct technical challenge that has never been done before,” the company added. Vogt expressed optimism about Cruise's future without him, saying the team is "executing on a solid, multi-year roadmap and an exciting product vision."
Safety is the defining principle for everything we do and will guide our progress through this process. As we begin this work, we have requirements in place that not only cover the safety criteria, functions and roadworthiness of the vehicle, but also include robust incident response protocols and extensive training and ongoing performance monitoring for the operators behind the wheel. Critics, including top lawmakers, continue to argue the driverless car industry lacks oversight, saying regulations have failed to keep up with the technology. Cruise's current test fleet is composed of hundreds of custom Chevrolet Bolt EVs equipped with driverless technology.
Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt recently said that the federal government was expected to make a decision on the Origin very soon. But there have also been frustrating delays, as companies have prioritized non-wheelchair accessible vehicles (WAV) in their various tests and deployments across the country. A number of companies, including Volkswagen, Waymo, and others, have been working on new designs they say are intended to benefit disabled passengers — but few have shown off an actual product until now.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating at least four incidents involving Cruise vehicles and pedestrians, including the one posted on Reddit. Retailleau said the car swerved as it approached, right toward his young son, Luke, who said he had to rush ahead to avoid being hit. Retailleau reported the incident to the DMV, which told NBC News it couldn’t disclose any details of its ongoing investigation. A big part of Cruise’s strategy moving forward, as outlined in Tuesday’s blog post, involves reforming and establishing updated incident response and crisis management protocols to ensure more efficient and transparent responses in the future.
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