Skip to main content

A weird thing just happened with a fleet of autonomous cars

In what must be one of the weirder stories linked to the development of autonomous vehicles, a fleet of Cruise self-driving cars gathered together at an intersection in San Francisco earlier this week, parked up, and blocked traffic for several hours. And to be clear: No, they weren’t supposed to do that.

Some observers may have thought they were witnessing the start of the robot uprising, but the real reason for the mishap was more prosaic: An issue with the platform’s software.

Personnel from General Motors-owned Cruise were called in to take control of some of the errant vehicles, while others were moved via remote intervention, according to TechCrunch.

A Reddit post on the self-driving slip-up described “a bunch of Cruise cars stuck” on Gough and Fulton Streets about two miles from Fisherman’s Wharf. Looking closely at the accompanying images, it appears that at least eight of Cruise’s autonomous vehicles were parked across the street. A Twitter post also captured the scene:

Some @Cruise robotaxis appeared to be stuck in SF last night at the corner of Gough St. and Fulton St.

Human ops apparently had to rescue them. Still some kinks to iron out. pic.twitter.com/eXDocjVfHU

— Taylor Ogan (@TaylorOgan) June 30, 2022

The bizarre incident comes four months after Cruise began offering autonomous rides to folks in San Francisco as part of a trial robotaxi service, and just days after it started charging passengers for the rides.

At the current time, Cruise’s self-driving cars have permission to operate between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. when the roads are quieter. There’s no backup driver behind the wheel, so passengers are truly alone in the vehicle. It’s not clear if there were any riders in the cars that got stuck.

Commenting on the incident, Cruise spokesperson Drew Pusateri told Digital Trends: “We had an issue earlier this week that caused some of our vehicles to cluster together. While it was resolved and no passengers were impacted, we apologize to anyone who was inconvenienced.”

It’s not yet clear if the authorities will punish Cruise for an apparent traffic violation, or indeed if the city has any kind of system in place for dealing with autonomous cars that are found to have broken the law.

One thing is clear — the city’s cops are still getting used to the idea of pulling over a vehicle with no one in it.

Editors' Recommendations

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Cruise autonomous vehicle drives over woman just after she was hit by another car
A Cruise autonomous car.

An autonomous vehicle (AV) operated by Cruise ran over a pedestrian in San Francisco on Monday night just after she’d been hit by another car, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

According to witnesses, the force of the initial impact knocked the woman into the path of the Cruise robotaxi, leaving her pinned under one of its wheels. The driver in the other car reportedly fled the scene.

Read more
Cruise says it’s nearing approval for mass production of futuristic robotaxi
Interior of Cruise's Origin vehicle.

Robotaxi company Cruise is “just days away” from getting regulatory approval that would pave the way for mass production of its purpose-built driverless vehicle, CEO Kyle Vogt said on Thursday in comments reported by the Detroit Free Press.

General Motors-backed Cruise unveiled the vehicle -- called Origin -- in early 2020, presenting the kind of driverless car that we all dreamed of when R&D in the sector kicked off years ago; a vehicle without a steering wheel and without pedals. A vehicle with passenger seats only.

Read more
Robotaxi firm Cruise ordered to halve fleet following incidents
A Cruise autonomous car.

Autonomous car company Cruise has been told by regulators to halve its robotaxi fleet in San Francisco following a crash with a fire truck on Thursday in which the driverless car's passenger suffered minor injuries.

The regulator -- the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) -- said that it’s looking into “recent concerning incidents” involving self-driving Cruise cars operating on the city’s public roads.

Read more