SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — Citing safety concerns, the California Department of Motor Vehicles has barred Cruise from operating its driverless taxis in San Francisco.
The DMV determined that the vehicles “are not safe for the public’s operation.” The suspension is effective immediately and there is no timetable for how long the suspension will last. The suspension only applies to driverless cars; Cruise can still run taxis with drivers, and can test the technology of the vehicles as long as a human safety driver is present.
“The California DMV today notified Cruise that the department is suspending Cruise’s autonomous vehicle deployment and driverless testing permits, effective immediately. The DMV has provided Cruise with the steps needed to apply to reinstate its suspended permits, which the DMV will not approve until the company has fulfilled the requirements to the department’s satisfaction,” the DMV said in a statement.
The DMV did not say what specific steps Cruise will need to take to get its permit back.
Along with safety concerns, the DMV said that Cruise “misrepresented information relating to the safety of the vehicles.”
This year, Cruise and Waymo received regulatory approval to commercially operate autonomous vehicles at all hours in San Francisco. There were initially plans for thousands of Cruise vehicles to operate in San Francisco, but the DMV ordered Cruise to cut its fleet in half one week after approval as it investigated several crashes of the robotaxis.
The suspension comes less than a month after a Cruise robotaxi was involved in a crash that severely injured a woman in downtown San Francisco. The incident was the first AV-involved crash in the city to result in severe injuries.
In the Oct 2. Incident, a human driver crashed into a woman crossing Market Street and sent her into the path of the Cruise autonomous vehicle, which ran her over before stopping on top of the woman, trapping her. San Francisco firefighters used the Jaws of Life to lift the vehicle off of the woman, who was transported to the hospital in critical condition.
The DMV did not specify if the crash on Oct. 2 factored into the decision to suspend Cruise’s permits.
“Ultimately, we develop and deploy autonomous vehicles in an effort to save lives,” Cruise said in a statement. “In the incident being reviewed by the DMV, a human hit-and-run driver tragically struck and propelled the pedestrian into the path of the AV. The AV braked aggressively before impact and because it detected a collision, it attempted to pull over to avoid further safety issues. When the AV tried to pull over, it continued before coming to a final stop, pulling the pedestrian forward.”
There has been public pushback to the integration of autonomous vehicles in San Francisco. Viral videos of driverless taxis exhibiting bizarre behavior, such as stalling at intersections and blocking emergency vehicles, have trended in recent weeks on social media platforms.
In July, the San Francisco Fire Department outlined over 50 incidents involving driverless taxis.
“Public safety remains the California DMV’s top priority, and the department’s autonomous vehicle regulations provide a framework to facilitate the safe testing and deployment of this technology on California public roads. When there is an unreasonable risk to public safety, the DMV can immediately suspend or revoke permits,” the DMV said in its statement.
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