California orders Cruise driverless cars off the roads because of safety concerns

[Eugene]

Source: NPR

California orders Cruise driverless cars off the roads because of safety concerns

October 24, 20234:34 PM ET
Dara Kerr

California has ordered the company Cruise to immediately stop operations of its driverless cars in the state. The Department of Motor Vehicles said on Tuesday that it was issuing the indefinite suspension because of safety issues with the vehicles.

"When there is an unreasonable risk to public safety, the DMV can immediately suspend or revoke permits," the DMV wrote in a statement. "There is no set time for a suspension."

The move comes after one of Cruise's driverless cars struck a pedestrian in downtown San Francisco earlier this month. The incident involved a woman who was first hit by a human driver and then thrown onto the road in front of a Cruise vehicle. The Cruise vehicle braked but then continued to roll over the pedestrian, pulling her forward, then coming to a final stop on top of her.

-snip-

Forghani said Cruise provided regulators a video of the incident and is complying with the DMV's order and "pausing operations." Those cars that have a human safety driver will be allowed to continue operating in the state.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2023/10/24/1208287502/california-orders-cruise-driverless-cars-off-the-roads-because-of-safety-concern

[Deuxcents]

1. Good.

I don’t live in California but driverless cars, imo, is dangerous..among other things nobody cares to hear about. Cars were invented to be driven by humans and even they are dangerous. Cars can be modified for handicapped drivers but they need a human behind the wheel. Take an Uber if ya don’t want to drive. 🤭

[swong19104]

4. AVs are inherently safer than human drivers

They just are. They're not going to be safer. They're already safer. (Tesla's FSD not included among "AVs". Those things are badly made toys.)

Autonomous vehicles, AVs, are just safer. You might want to ride in one a few times to understand why.

[moniss]

2. This sort of thing highlights

the problem with tech gurus believing that tech can do anything and can solve any problem or be applied to any situation. It's not necessarily so. Everything in the world is not always best served by a tech solution.

[eppur_se_muova]

3. Our highways are not a test track. nt

[swong19104]

5. None of the AV companies are operating on highways

Tesla's FSD (Full Self Driving) is just a toy. It's not ready for primetime, but for some reason, is allowed on highways. All other present AVs: Cruise, Waymo, Zoox, are city driving only. Cruise and Waymo do go on freeways, but with an operator behind the wheel to take over when necessary (or, the operator is actually operating the vehicle, and is just taking the car from garage to maintenance or another garage).

At the same time, we have 40,000+ people die every year in the US due to automobile-related accidents. 100% of those are human-driven vehicles. That number of deaths isn't as alarming as the 2.5 million injured every year. The reason the number of deaths is low compare to the number of injured is because all modern vehicles are built like a tank (and many are physically larger than some WWII tanks). Modern vehicles keep the passengers from dying. But there could be minor to serious injuries involved.

Accidents and deaths due to human-driven vehicles are so commonplace that such occurrence don't even warrant a mention in the B section of a local paper (if they exist where the accident occurred).

And the accident that involved the Cruise vehicle was initially caused by a human-driven vehicle hitting a pedestrian (and then speeding away), causing that pedestrian to fall in front of an oncoming Cruise vehicle. The Cruise vehicle stopped, and then attempted a pull over wherein it rolled over the fallen pedestrian. If there were a human driver in the Cruise vehicle, it probably would not be able to stop in time and would have hit the pedestrian before stopping.

[Eugene]

7. The AI is making basic mistakes typical of inexperienced, distracted or impaired drivers.

A CNBC reporter described her ride in a Cruise vehicle
as being driven around like a student driver.
Human student drivers flunk road tests and licensed
drivers get tickets for these kinds of incidents.

As for accident statistics, human-driven accidents
and fatalities are counted per millions of miles driven.
Autonomous self driving doesn't have the miles.

As for the pedestrian incident, the AI fell down
encountering the unexpected. Human operators
get cited for careless driving in situations like this.

[Mr.Bill]

6. Well, if you've ever driven in San Francisco

you will understand how they might have been thinking if self driving cars work there, they should work just about anywhere. It's the most car-unfriendly city I've ever driven in.