California suspends Cruise’s autonomous robotaxis

The state of California announced Tuesday that it is immediately suspending permits belonging to driverless taxi firm Cruise, which effectively halts the firm’s autonomous-driving operations for the duration of the suspension.

The California Dept. of Motor Vehicles (DMV) suspended both Cruise’s testing and deployment permits, which will keep the autonomous robotaxis parked and off the streets of San Francisco for an indefinite period. Cruise is a subsidiary of General Motors and has focused heavily on an effort to produce a fully autonomous shuttle called Origin that has no steering wheel or manual controls.

“Public safety remains the California DMV’s top priority, and the department’s autonomous vehicle regulations provide a framework to facilitate the safe testing and deployment of this technology on California public roads,” the state’s DMV wrote. “When there is an unreasonable risk to public safety, the DMV can immediately suspend or revoke permits. There is no set time for a suspension.”

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In explaining the reasoning for its suspension decision, the agency wrote that based on the vehicle’s performance the DMV determined the manufacturer’s vehicles aren’t safe for public operation. 

The DMV also said that the manufacturer misrepresented information related to the safety of its autonomous technology in its vehicles. It also indicated that there was an act or omission by the manufacturer or one of its agents, employees, contractors, or designees which the DMV finds makes vehicle testing on public roads an unreasonable risk to the public.

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A spokesperson for Cruise told FOX Business that as a result of the California DMV’s announcement this morning “we will be pausing operations of our driverless AVs in San Francisco.”

Both the state of California and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) launched investigations into an early October incident in which a human driver hit a pedestrian crossing the street, who was then launched into the path of a Cruise robotaxi in an adjacent lane and the vehicle wasn’t able to stop in time to avoid the pedestrian and ultimately came to a stop on top of the pedestrian. The pedestrian was freed by first responders and taken to a nearby trauma center.

“Ultimately, we develop and deploy autonomous vehicles in an effort to save lives. In the incident being reviewed by the DMV, a human hit and run driver tragically struck and propelled the pedestrian into the path of the AV. The AV braked aggressively before impact and because it detected a collision, it attempted to pull over to avoid further safety issues,” the company said. “When the AV tried to pull over, it continued before coming to a final stop, pulling the pedestrian forward. Our thoughts continue to be with the victim as we hope for a rapid and complete recovery.”

The company added that it reached out to the California DMV and NHTSA following the early October incident and that it continues to cooperate with the state’s investigation.

Prior to that incident, the California DMV said in August that it was investigating other “recent concerning incidents” involving Cruise vehicles in San Francisco which prompted a request that Cruise take half its robotaxis off the road – a request the company complied with. 

NHTSA launched a separate safety probe of the autonomous driving system in Cruise’s vehicles in December following a pair of rear-end crashes. The agency said the vehicles “may engage in inappropriately hard braking or become immobilized.”

Reuters contributed to this report.