A driverless Cruise autonomous automobile collided with a semi-truck in San Francisco on August 7, Basic Motors’ autonomous driving unit confirmed.
The accident was first reported on Twitter by Alf Santos (@alfsan), who posted a brief video and images with the aftermath of the crash, which occurred in San Francisco close to Golden Gate Park space.
Trying on the video, it seems that the Chevrolet Bolt EV-based autonomous ride-hailing automobile had been by hit the semi-truck’s trailer, which gave the impression to be concerned in a “swing extensive” maneuver, briefly blocking the street on the time of the collision. The footage confirmed the truck backing away from the Cruise automobile, which sustained injury to its passenger-side mirror and one in all its cameras, in addition to a flat tire.
Cruise, which not too long ago ran a controversial advert saying people are horrible drivers, responded to the tweet that reported the collision and stated the semi-truck was in the proper lane when it tried to show left because the Cruise automobile was passing.
“We’re actively investigating, however we are able to verify that the truck tried a left flip from the proper lane whereas our automobile was passing. The AV got here to an entire cease to keep away from a collision when it detected the truck starting to maneuver, however the truck continued and struck our automobile.”
The corporate added that there have been no passengers within the Cruise AV on the time, and no accidents had been reported.
Now, the Basic Motors unit’s assertion doesn’t appear to account for one more risk that seems doubtless on this case, specifically that the semi-truck was performing a “swing extensive” maneuver – albeit a somewhat poorly executed one – on the time the Cruise AV drove too near it.
Semi-truck drivers usually have to “swing extensive” to account for the prolonged size of their automobiles when turning. Extra particularly, the truck should briefly enter an adjoining lane to the left or proper in an effort to present sufficient room to finish the flip with out working over the curb.
It is attainable that the Cruise robotaxi did not acknowledge one of these maneuver, besides, the truth that it stopped within the path of the turning semi because the truck was signaling a left flip doesn’t look superb.
Cruise autonomous automobiles have been concerned in a number of incidents in San Francisco for the reason that metropolis allowed the corporate to supply absolutely driverless rides in 2021. A lot of the incidents consisted of Cruise automobiles getting caught in intersections blocking visitors, however there have been additionally extra severe occasions.
In June 2022, a Cruise AV was concerned in an accident with a Toyota Prius after the robotaxi turned left in entrance of the oncoming Prius. One passenger within the Cruise automobile was taken to the hospital, whereas 4 extra passengers (two from the robotaxi and two from the Toyota) wanted medical consideration for minor accidents.
Then in March 2023, a Cruise AV rear-ended a San Francisco municipal bus that was on the proper lane of the street. No individuals had been injured because the self-driving automobile carried no passengers on the time. Nevertheless, the incident triggered a recall of 300 Cruise AVs for a repair consisting of a software program replace.