Exploring Fully Self-Driving Vehicles to Drive Automata and Industry Success: A Case Study of a San Francisco Firefighter

Cruise is looking to operate a paid taxi service in San Francisco. The company got approved by the California Department of Motor Vehicles in December but still has to go through the California Public Utility Commission. Both companies provide transportation in Phoenix, Arizona, and Cruise also provided transportation in Austin, Texas.

We are starting to see the response from the fully self-driving vehicles to complex traffic situations after a few months on the streets of San Francisco.

The company had originally planned to unveil a commercial service there in 2019 but failed to do so after determining the technology wasn’t quite ready. The service was launched in 2022.

Last week, the National Highway Traffic Administration said it had started an investigation into incidents in which hard braking by Cruise vehicles has resulted in rear-end accidents. The company said it welcomed the scrutiny, noting that its vehicles have caused “zero life-threatening injuries or fatalities.”

However, city officials also express concern over the way driverless vehicles deal with emergency vehicles. The San Francisco Fire Department’s vehicle was trying to get to the fire when the Cruise vehicle stopped in a travel lane.

The letter says that a series of limited deployment with small expansions are the best way to drive automation and industry success in San Francisco.

Pedestrian Runs over Fire Hoses: A Waymo Response to a Report by a Lossy Active Firefighter

Months later, a Cruise AV “ran over a fire hose that was in use at an active fire scene,” and another Cruise vehicle almost did the same at an active firefighting scene earlier this month. The vehicle was stopped from running over the hose by the firefighters because they shattered the front window. Cruise calls for emergency services when the rider falls asleep on three separate occasions, only to have emergency services arrive and find that the rider was already dead.

Cruise has a reported safety record that includes driving millions of miles in an urban environment with no life-threatening injuries or deaths.

“These letters are a standard part of the regulatory process, and we have long appreciated a healthy dialogue with city officials and government agencies in California,” Waymo spokesperson Katherine Barna says in a statement to The Verge. We will have an opportunity to reply to the submission next week.