As of early September 2023, production of the Cruise Origin self-driving robotaxi was said to officially commence in a few days, while the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was set to decide whether or not to allow the exemptions for the driverless units. Now, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Union has asked the government agency to not allow the exemptions for the Cruise Origin to take effect.
Addressed directly to the NHTSA, Teamsters has called for the agency to reject the request of approval from General Motors and its self-driving subsidiary, Cruise. More specifically, the exemptions are in regard to the robotaxi’s lack of pedals, steering wheel, and other manual controls.
“It is dangerous for other motorists, for pedestrians, and for middle-class jobs for Cruise to make a request like this from NHTSA,” Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien stated. “We already have too many examples of the chaos these vehicles cause in our communities. To allow this company to expand its fleet to put even more ‘advanced’ driverless cars on the road would be catastrophic for everyone.”
To the Teamsters Union’s point, there have been quite a few notable incidents with Cruise’s self-driving technology, including a Chevy Bolt EV-based AV unit getting stuck in wet concrete, and another blocking a fire truck.
In its comments, Teamsters mentions the lack of information from General Motors and Cruise on its proposed package delivery service, how it would operate, and how safety concerns would be addressed.
“Given fundamental questions raised concerning the safety record of the petitioner, and ongoing failures to detail components of the Origin’s operations, at this time we do not believe that GM / Cruise can operate a FMVSS-exempted vehicle at the level of safety standards required by federal law and regulation,” Teamsters continued.
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Comments
Cruise, Waymo, and Zoox have all had accidents. They are all dangerous so why target only one?
Oh yeah…..organized labor only needs to put pressure on one of them.
The others are not manufacturing an automated breadbox like the Organ
This is false. Both waymo Zeekr and zoox are similar vehicles going through the same process.
Don’t the others you mention have manual controls that can be used by a captive passenger in case of failure of the software/hardware ?
Yes they do
This, I agree with. These menaces are dangerous, not needed, and should be banned.
Talking about human drivers that are a lot more dangerous and get into more accidents and kill about 30,000 people per year in the US?
No, he’s talking about the Origin POS that is designed for people too afraid to drive themselves and are naive enough to think these drones will never kill or injure.
So the “professional” steering wheel holders are finally seeing a legit threat to their industry and jobs. When A/V robo taxis succeed, how long will it be until semi’s eliminate their #1 cause for safety and reliability issues?….
IF robo taxis succeed….
It’s only a matter of time. It’s like saying what if GPS doesn’t succeed and we keep using paper maps. Will it succeed in the next year or two, no. But I wouldn’t want to be in the business 10 years from now.
Try 50 years from now- maybe. The interest in these drones are minimal.
People that have ridden in then tend to like them. No questionable driver, consistent driving, no ackward conversations and the driver doesn’t smell are some of the reasons I like them.
Flew, what will be your defense when one of these AV kills somebody?
Don’t pretend that’s not going to happen…
You can shrug it off in the name of progress, I suppose.
Or when assaults and robberies occur in one of these.
I’m all for supporting unions, but they need to figure out how to adapt to the changing times and technologies. Maybe start training your union members how to be virtual operators at the command centers for these autonomous vehicles. Or start offering training for other jobs.
Or teach them to collect a welfare check- the Democratic Way.
There are enough obviously older people commenting here who have seen change happen firsthand, yet still can’t isee the change happening in front of them. Google maps replaced Thomas Bro maps, and here you are arguing about robot cars most likely on your smartphone, neither of which were ideas outside the Jetsons 20 years ago. Robotaxis are already here, just in small enough numbers that you haven’t ridden in one so you can keep pretending they dont exist. I’ve already seen an AI freight truck driving down the freeway, while following an EV truck that was driving cross country towing a mustang on a trailer. While you’re debating how Robotaxis will never be as good as humans, I’ve watched them go from barely functional to driving better than my kid in just a few years. Within this decade, the only thing holding them back will be how how much production capacity automakers want to divert from private vehicle sales to fleet sales.
I’m a good driver and have no need to have a drone take me places. The rest of us who love driving our own vehicles responsibly should not have to be punished because some people do not know how to drive.
Or need to constantly check their FB, Instagram, and Snapchat feeds to see how important they are instead of being responsible drivers.
Any idea how out-of-date and incorrect “Google Maps” can be ? Of course not. I’ve had to correct them as a “Local Guide” about two dozen times now and my corrections have been sourced by searchers in my area that tourists visit over 300 times, per Google, and there are still errors which I am not going to correct for them anymore without compensation !
Computing power for a passenger-carrying mobile device in congested major City surface traffic with complications and changing events is not here yet. Putting a Robo-taxi into City traffic and not equipping it with manual controls is insanity at present.
Hmmm….seems like the Union is much more aware of reality than GM management. Putting your faith in one of these conveyances without manual controls is nuts.
SOoo.. If this bus functioning is compromised. It causes many various and serious problems.
How about a DEPOSIT from GM, so that persons who are affected by this bus malfunction can obtain monetary compensation without a court proceeding.
Losing money from the Deposit might force GM to modify the software?
Right now there is not motivation to even change software is there?
Or
take all the buses off the street when a altercation arises?
This just in, a Cruise vehicle ran over a pedestrian in SF and now is in critical condition. So much for these pieces if crap being safer than human drivers.
Great half truth you told there. You missed the part were a hit and run driver cause the pedestrian to be thrown into the cruise vehicle.
This just in, human drivers kill about 20 pedestrians per day in the US.