SAE Update - December 2023 - 19

TECH FOCUS:
AI AND AUTOMATION
made the cell-connected cars
unable to reroute. The AVs were
essentially paralyzed with
indecision; a major traffic jam
ensued.
One week later, a Cruise
robotaxi collided with a San
Francisco fire truck as it
responded to an emergency call.
The AV had entered an
intersection on a green light,
unaware of a fire truck barreling
down the road. As a result, one
passenger was taken to a
hospital via ambulance for " nonsevere
injuries, " according to
Cruise.
Of course, Cruise isn't the only
AV company experiencing these
issues. Its competitor, Waymo,
has a similar history. In one
instance, San Franciso police
body camera footage shows a
Waymo AV inching slowly
towards a water line that was
being used by the fire
department to put out a blaze;
luckily, respondents were able to
put the car in park before it
severed the hose connection.
Unluckily, the San Francisco Fire
Department has reported other
instances in which driverless cars
actually drove over or parked on
active hose lines.
The San Francisco Fire
UPDATE
Department has reported at least 55 AV incidents,
which can be read here. The department initially filed
these incidents under the " unusual occurrence "
category; that is, until the unusual became otherwise.
An April 25, 2023, report notes, " Driverless car
incidents are dangerous and frequent. " An earlier
report, dated June 13, 2022, says, " Another Cruise
mishap. These things are going to hurt someone. "
In one report from March 2023, a department
member was responding to multiple calls of fallen
trees and downed wires due to extreme weather. At
the scene, two Cruise cars drove through caution tape,
wrapped sandwich boards around their front
bumpers, and eventually became stuck on a largegauge
trolley line after dragging it for half a block.
According to the author of this particular report, " If
this wire had still been 'hot,' this would have been
much more hazardous. "
On October 16, 2023, the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened an
investigation into the safety of Cruise's driverless
vehicles. One week later, the California Department of
Motor Vehicles (DMV) suspended Cruise's AV
deployment permits, citing a lack of transparency
from the company and overall safety concerns. A few
days after that, Cruise suspended all driverless
operations across the United States.
Of moose and men
As of October 13, 2023, the California DMV had
received 666 AV collision reports, 122 of which
occurred in 2023. Of these, 40 were attributed to
Cruise and 46 were attributed to Waymo.
Does this mean that AVs are inherently dangerous?
That they should be taken off of the roads? That
developers forgot to teach their machines Asimov's
December 2023
19

https://missionloca.s3.amazonaws.com/mission/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/av_reports_2_Redacted.pdf https://www.scribd.com/document/679887097/California-DMV-Orders-of-Suspension-to-GM-owned-Cruise https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/vehicle-industry-services/autonomous-vehicles/autonomous-vehicle-collision-reports

SAE Update - December 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of SAE Update - December 2023