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Cruise AVs To Get Improved Emergency Vehicle And Situation Awareness

GM robotaxi and autonomous vehicle (AV) subsidiary Cruise announced a series of technology upgrades for its Cruise AVs following complaints about the problems the driverless Chevy Bolt EV units experience navigating near emergencies.

Following the upgrades, Cruise AVs will be better able to identify and avoid emergency vehicles and equipment.

Side view of a Cruise AV picking up a passenger.

In response to Frisco officials’ efforts to stop expansion of robotaxis into offering daytime rides, the GM subsidiary is working to improve AV navigation so that the driverless cabs can successfully and reliably maneuver around fire engines and ambulances rather than blocking traffic.

The new tech will also give the robotaxis the ability to detect and avoid uninflated firehoses lying across the road as well as caution tape, and to hear and respond correctly to emergency vehicle sirens. The municipal authorities will also begin sending real-time data about emergency vehicle movements to Cruise so the company can remotely guide its AVs away from potential problem spots.

Rear three quarters view of the AV robotaxi with a passenger debarking.

The updates address a litany of complaints about the autonomous vehicles, including claims that the robotic cabs have caused problems at the scene of emergencies on at least 58 occasions. This includes traffic blockage, running over fire hoses, and a recent case where a pedestrian hit by a human-driven car was then trapped under a Cruise AV.

At least one change raises potential questions about the GM subsidiary’s ground-up driverless robotaxi, the Cruise Origin. The new plan will allow first responders to take over control of Cruise AV units and simply drive them out of the way if necessary, like a regular vehicle. However, the Origin is specifically designed in its production form to include no controls usable by a human driver.

This raises the question of how first responders will move an Origin that gets embroiled in an emergency situation short of brute-force towing. The Teamsters Union recently raised similar concerns, saying the application for an NHTSA exemption allowing Origin units to operate despite lacking a steering wheel, pedals, or any way for a human to take control is “dangerous for other motorists, for pedestrians” according to president Sean M. O’Brien.

A human-driven Origin operating in traffic.

Meanwhile, Cruise trimmed its San Francisco AV fleet by half to 50 vehicles after one collided with a fire truck earlier this summer.

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Comments

  1. A human driver would solve the problems.

    Reply
  2. If there was any doubt that AV’s were not ready for general road use, this should answer that question. One of the FIRST things you learn when you learn how to drive is move over and get out of the way of sirens. I never would have imagined that the developers were so stupid as to not put a microphone on the system that detected sirens.

    Reply
  3. They just don’t care about people ‘s safety otherwise they wouldn’t need a fix.

    Reply
  4. No time to build it right, but time to Try and fix it

    Reply
  5. Of course they don’t care about safety and lives. This is all a plan for a new world order where you will not own a car or home and your freedoms are being taken away one by one disguised as moving forward and catch phrases like “progress”.

    Reply
  6. Really can’t understand why gm electric are using the US general public as human guinea pigs in these beta robot taxis that just seems crazy.

    Surely it would sharpen the minds if several members of Cruise engineering team sat-in the drivers seat keeping eye on Cruise system, you could still use it as a taxi with the Cruise engineer up front, with cruise/gm electric employee volunteer as the passenger, Should an accident or incident look like it’s was going to happen take back manual control of the Bolt, then ground all the fleet in the workshop sort out the incident, make sure the problem sorted without all this negative publicity.

    When you reach whatever the net zero accidents threshold target are then release it for public use.

    If Cruise have missed something it will all come out in the wash regardless, like it did with the original early Airbus A320 & Boeing 737 Max did.

    It’s the Boeing CEO got sacked forfeited stock worth $14.6m, Muilenburg was contractually entitled to receive $62.2m in stock and pension awards, worst of he would have had to live with all those deaths on his conscience for the rest of his living life. Barra as CEO would carry the can for the Bolt EV along with the Cruise engineers & CEO all of the names are on the companies exposition, if the Bolt EV/Cruise started racking up a load of deaths after it fully authorised in service..

    Reply

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