After two accidents involving pedestrians in San Francisco, the robotaxi company Cruise came into the attention of the US transport authority. The NHTSA has initiated an investigation that will, among other things, clarify whether the vehicles, some of which are completely driverless, drive too close to people.
In an accident at the beginning of October, a pedestrian collided with a Cruise robotaxi. According to the accident report, the pedestrian was initially hit by another vehicle with a human behind the wheel and thrown in front of the self-driving car. The self-driving car braked immediately – but was no longer able to prevent the collision.
Unique test case in San Francisco
The NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) referred to another incident. According to Tuesday’s documents, a cruise robotaxi was driving at a traffic light intersection at the end of August with the green light on – and at the same time a pedestrian stepped in front of the vehicle. The software tried to evade and brake. However, the car still hit the pedestrian at a speed of around two kilometers per hour.
The only known fatal accident involving a self-driving car occurred in the US state of Arizona in 2018. A car from the ride-hailing company Uber hit a woman crossing the street during an evening test drive. She was pushing a bicycle with plastic bags on the handlebars next to her – and the situation overwhelmed the Uber software, which initially couldn’t correctly classify what she was dealing with. Uber sold its own development of self-driving cars at the end of 2020.