The San Francisco Police Department is investigating an Oct. 2 incident in which a woman became stuck under a cruise robotaxi after being struck by a human-driven vehicle.
One of Cruise Recorded video shows a robotaxi braking and then driving over a pedestrian. The woman was lying on the road after a collision with a conventional car and was thrown in front of the autonomous vehicle. Cruise states that the driver of the vehicle that initially struck the pedestrian fled the scene of the accident.
Cruise stated in his account of events that the robotaxi braked to minimize damage. Nevertheless, the pedestrian was run over and then trapped under the cruise vehicle.
The Cruise vehicle’s cameras, including front-facing, rear-facing and side cameras, captured a human-operated vehicle in the left lane accelerating through the intersection. Shortly afterwards, the video shows a person stepping onto the street and being hit by the human-driven car. The person flies over the hood onto the roof of the vehicle, from where it eventually fell onto the road. The pedestrian landed to the right of the conventional vehicle – exactly where the cruise robotaxi was.
The police investigation is still ongoing. So far the report indicates that the accident occurred on October 2nd at approximately 9:30 p.m. The pedestrian was taken to hospital together with the emergency services. Her condition is unknown. The cruise vehicle was driving without any occupants. Cruise also commented on the incident and reported on the other, the accident vehicle. This car fled the scene of the accident. Identification could be achieved with the recordings of the robot taxi. An investigation will now clarify whether the autonomous vehicle could have avoided the accident at all.
But in a city already divided over robotaxis, it may not matter whether Cruise is to blame. The incident comes at a critical time for Cruise, a company that is trying to scale robotaxi operations in San Francisco and conduct tests and ultimately charge for rides in more than a dozen U.S. cities.
Cruise and Waymo received the in August Approval from the California Public Utilities Commission, to expand commercial operations in San Francisco. The permits allow companies to operate 24 hours a day, expand their fleets and charge for rides throughout the city.
Just a few days later, Cruise was in an accident with one rescue vehicle implicated, prompting the California Department of Motor Vehicles to ask Cruise to reduce its fleet by 50% pending an investigation.