Robotaxi runs red light, crashes with firetruck prompting San Francisco to rethink driverless cabs
A Cruise driverless robotaxi ran a green light and collided with an on-duty fire truck in San Francisco.
The firetruck rammed into the taxi in the Thursday night accident, causing the sole passenger in the driverless cab to bump her head.
She was treated on-scene and taken to a hospital for what the taxi company called “non-severe injuries.”
“Our primary concern is the rider and their welfare, and we have reached out to offer support,” Cruise wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “We are investigating to better understand our AVs performance, and will be in touch with the City of San Francisco about the event.”
The accident occurred a week after the California Public Utilities Commission approve Waymo and Cruise to operate 24-hour driverless taxis in the city.
Robotaxis have had other issues in San Francisco, including a Cruise taxi that drove into wet concrete Tuesday.
“I can see five different scenarios where bad things happen and this is one of them. It thinks it’s a road and it ain’t because it ain’t got a brain and it can’t tell that it’s freshly poured concrete,” resident Paul Harvey told SFGATE after seeing the taxi get stuck.
Since June 2022, almost 600 incidents involving autonomous vehicles have occurred city-wide, according to city transit officials.
The day before the accident with the firetruck, San Francisco officials asked the CPUC for a stay on robotaxi legalization while the city seeks a rehearing of the decision.
“We have seen that this technology is not yet ready, and poor AV performance has interfered with the life-saving operations of first responders. San Francisco will suffer serious harms from this unfettered expansion, which outweigh whatever impacts AV companies may experience from a minimal pause in commercial deployment,” San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu said in a statement Thursday.
Fire officials agreed.
“The decision permits industry expansion without solving any of the underlying problems. We do not believe the industry has any incentive to remain at the table and solve their problems. These incidents with Public Safety are not going away,” San Francisco Fire Chief Jeanine Nicholson said in a statement.
Cruise insisted the technology is safe.
“It’s unfortunate to see the city use public resources to bypass that decision and restrict a technology with an excellent safety record used by tens of thousands of SF residents,” a company spokesperson said.
The city’s other robotaxi company, Waymo, said it was following the developments closely.
“In the meantime, we will continue to work with the city of San Francisco in constructive ways while providing safe and accessible mobility to San Franciscans,” said a Waymo spokesperson.
