Company halts driverless robotaxis in US after crackdown by California

Cruise, an autonomous-vehicle company majority-owned by General Motors, is suspending all its driverless operations across the United States after California revoked the company's self-driving permit over public safety concerns.

The company announced the halting of robotaxi services nationwide in a social media post Oct 26.

"The most important thing for us right now is to take steps to rebuild public trust. Part of this involves taking a hard look inwards and at how we do work at Cruise," the company said in a statement.

The move came three days after the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) suspended Cruise's deployment license. The California Public Utilities Commission has also suspended Cruise's ability to carry passengers in autonomous vehicles even with a safety driver behind the wheel.

The DMV's decision is based on an accident in which a Cruise robotaxi dragged a pedestrian 20 feet and over claims that the company withheld from regulators the entire video, according to DMV's notice on Tuesday.

On Oct 2, the car hit a woman and left the scene; she was thrown into the adjacent lane of the Cruise driverless car.

After coming to a stop, the Cruise car attempted to pull over while the woman was underneath the vehicle. The car traveled about 20 feet and reached speeds of 7 mph before coming to a stop, DMV said.

Cruise provided the video of the accident taken by the car's cameras to the DMV; however, the agency said the footage didn't show the car pulling over while the woman was pinned underneath.

DMV said that it then requested the additional footage from Cruise and received it on Oct 13.

"When there is an unreasonable risk to public safety, the DMV can immediately suspend or revoke permits," the agency said in a news release. It added that the suspension was partly based on a state regulation: "The manufacturer has misrepresented any information related to safety of the autonomous technology of its vehicles."

Cruise has been operating driverless fleets in Phoenix, and in Houston and Austin, Texas, as it seeks to scale up the business in other US cities. It also has driverless cars operating in Dallas and Miami, but those aren't being used commercially.

Following the permit suspension in California, Arizona's Department of Transportation said it is closely monitoring the testing and use of self-driving vehicles in the state.

Last week, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it opened a safety-defect probe into nearly 600 driverless cars operated by Cruise. The regulator said it is aware of four incidents, including two that resulted in injuries.

The latest investigation asserts the Office of Defects Investigation received reports of incidents involving the cars that "may not have exercised appropriate caution around pedestrians in the roadway".

Cruise, founded in San Francisco in 2013, conducted its first driverless ride in the city in 2020. It started offering a commercial driverless-car service last year. That service was available only at night until this August, when the California public utilities commission allowed Cruise and another autonomous vehicle company, Waymo, to operate robotaxi service in the city at all hours.

Controversy has surrounded robotaxis for months after San Francisco's fire chief criticized Cruise and Waymo, formerly known as the Google Self-Driving Car Project, for interfering with firetrucks and emergency operations. Police also said robotaxis were getting in their way.

In August, San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu filed motions to stay the public utilities commission's approval and requested a rehearing. He said the cars' poor performance created safety hazards and interfered with first responder operations, public transit, street construction workers and the flow of traffic.

Like cruise, Waymo has met with strong opposition from residents, public officials and labor unions. The company has launched robotaxi service in Santa Monica, California, and plans to expand to Los Angeles next month.

On the same day that California regulators revoked Cruise's permits, labor leaders and others gathered outside Google's headquarters in Los Angeles to protest Waymo's driverless service and expansion plans. They expressed concerns about safety, citing collisions involving self-driving cars in San Francisco, and the possible elimination of jobs.