With the expansion of Cruise – General Motors’ self-driving subsidiary – San Francisco Fire Chief Jeanine Nicholson recently claimed that Cruise AV units have the ability to interfere with emergency vehicles. Now, a Cruise AV unit was involved in a collision with a fire truck in San Francisco.
In a post to social media, Cruise explained that one of its robotaxi units got in an accident with a San Francisco fire truck on August 17th, 2023. In a series of posts, Cruise explained its version of how the events unfolded.
It’s worth noting that while Cruise has been spotted blocking firefighters several times in the past, this is the first time a robotaxi unit was directly involved in a collision with emergency vehicles.
“They’re not ready for prime time,” San Francisco Fire Chief Jeanine Nicholson previously stated. “I’m not against the technology. I understand it’s important and it’s the way the industry is going. But we need to fix what’s not working right now, before they are unleashed on the rest of the city. We have 160,000 calls a year. We don’t have the time to personally take care of a car that’s in the way when we’re on the way to an emergency.”
A little after 10PM last night one of our cars was in a collision at Polk and Turk St and we wanted to provide an update on what we know at this time. (1/5)
— cruise (@Cruise) August 18, 2023
As previously mentioned, Cruise was recently green-lit to expand its operations across California. More specifically, the self-driving service is now allowed to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Previously, Cruse AVs were only allowed to operate in designated neighborhoods at specific hours, with some providers allowed to offer only free rides.
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Comments
Really is anyone surprised? Matter of time. But hey, progress right.
Outlaw them now!
“In a post to social media, Cruise explained that one of its robotaxi units got in an accident with a San Francisco fire truck on August 17th, 2023. In a series of posts, Cruise explained its version of how the events unfolded.”
I’m sure it was the fire truck’s fault 🙄
Emergency vehicles are permitted to violate traffic laws, but the poor Cruise AV does not know that!!
Just what SF needs on top of all its other problems. Hope no one ever does because a Cruise kept an emergency vehicle from responding in time.
More wasted time and money that could have been used to improve a legitimate product like the Chevy Malibu. But management knows best not the paying public..
There was an article on Business Insider that reported a Cruise drone got stuck in wet cement not being able to decipher the barricades. The SF district attorney filed a brief asking that the decision be revoked to allow these drones to operate 24/7 throughout the city.