CLOSE
Ford Motor Co. is making Miami-Dade County its new test bed for self-driving vehicles. Ford
Cruise Automation self-driving test vehicle navigates the urban streets of San Francisco, CA.
(Photo: Karl Nielsen for Cruise Automation)
It sounds like the setup for a joke: A self-driving car got a ticket last week in San Francisco, KPIX-TV reported.
• So was Robocop the arresting officer?
• Does the car lose points off its license?
• Can it use cybercurrency to pay the fine?
• Why didn’t the car turn itself in?
OK, but seriously: A motorcycle cop ticketed a Cruise autonomous vehicle’s human safety driver, saying the car came too close to a pedestrian.
The incident came a day after an Uber self-driving car struck and killed a woman walking her bicycle at night in Tempe, Arizona, leading that state to suspend autonomous vehicle testing. The woman was not in a crosswalk, but video from the incident appears to show the car’s safety driver looking down at the time.
Read more:
Cruise Automation, which is a startup acquired by General Motors, says it’s a bum rap — that the car’s data shows it was no closer than 10.8 feet from the woman, who was in a crosswalk in the South of Market neighborhood.
No one was hurt.
“Safety is our priority in testing our self-driving vehicles,” Cruise said in a statement. “California law requires the vehicle to yield the right of way to pedestrians, allowing them to proceed undisturbed and unhurried without fear of interference of their safe passage through an intersection. Our data indicates that’s what happened here.”
A San Francisco police spokeswoman told Business Insider, though, that the officer’s observations matter more than data. “We don’t look at or work with that data,” Giselle Linnane said.
There’s no word on whether the company will challenge the ticket. Its vehicles are still on the streets.
Read or Share this story: https://on.freep.com/2GgZo7f