A recall affecting 950 Robo taxis has been issued by General Motors’ autonomous vehicle venture, Cruise, in response to a pedestrian collision that occurred in San Francisco last month.
After the Oct. 2 collision, in which a pedestrian was knocked into the path of the Cruise Robo taxi by a human driver in a separate car who hit her first, the company had previously suspended all of its driverless operations.
According to the NHTSA report and earlier statements from the company, the Cruise autonomous vehicle braked forcefully prior to impact and then attempted to pull over to the side of the road. The pedestrian was hauled forward by the car about twenty feet during this process.
The crash on October 2 set off a federal investigation. Additionally, California regulators revoked Cruise’s company’s permission to operate driverless vehicles in the state unless a human safety driver was present as a result of the collision and Cruise’s disclosures surrounding it.
Alphabet, the parent company of Google, owns rival Waymo, which is still operating autonomous vehicles both inside and outside of California.
Cruise discovered software flaws in its automated driving system, particularly with regard to its “Collision Detection Subsystem,” after the collision, according to a filing the company made with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on November 7.
“In certain circumstances, a collision may occur, and the Cruise AV’s Collision Detection Subsystem may cause it to attempt to pull over out of traffic instead of remaining stationary when a pullover is not the desired post-collision response,” Cruise wrote in the filing to the federal vehicle safety agency. This problem might arise following a collision with a pedestrian who was walking along the AV’s path at a low height.
In addition to carrying out the voluntary recall, Cruise stated in a different blog post on Wednesday that the business is currently looking to appoint a Chief Safety Officer. According to a statement from the company, Louise Zhang, VP of Safety & Systems at Cruise, is acting as the company’s interim chief safety officer and is in charge of the safety reviews and investigations.
Cruise has started independent investigations into the events of October 2, depending on engineering consultants Exponent and Quinn Emanuel, a legal firm well-known for representing Elon Musk and Tesla.
Cruise also momentarily halted production of its Cruise Origin driverless vans following the company’s loss of its California permits and public outcry over safety concerns. Cruise and General Motors intended to build a small number of these self-driving shuttles in Detroit. The 2020 Origin, which can accommodate six people, lacks an acceleration pedal and a steering wheel.
According to GM’s announcement last month, the company lost almost $1.9 billion on Cruise between January and September of this year, with $732 million of that loss occurring in just the third quarter.
