Federal regulators have launched a second investigation into the autonomous driving systems used by the rideshare company Cruise. They say that the systems 鈥渕ay not have exercised appropriate caution鈥� around pedestrians.
Right now, Cruise operates in San Francisco, Phoenix and Austin 鈥� and they hope to launch their service in Dallas before the end of the year.
According to the notice filed by the Office of Defects Investigation, the agency received reports of Cruise vehicles 鈥渆ncroaching on pedestrians鈥� and the autonomous vehicles could 鈥渋ncrease the risk of a collision鈥hich may result in severe injury or death.鈥�
The department says the investigation stems from two reports of Cruise vehicle incidents that resulted in pedestrian injuries 鈥� and two other incidents 鈥渨ith videos posted to public websites.鈥�
In December 2022, the National Highway Traffic Administration opened an investigation into reports that Cruise vehicles 鈥渕ay engage in inappropriately hard braking.鈥�
The administration said at the time it has been told of multiple incidents where Cruise vehicles were 鈥渋mmobilized鈥� 鈥� and became 鈥渦nexpected obstacles鈥� in the road and left riders stranded.
四虎影院 reached out to Cruise to ask for comment about the federal investigation and whether it would delay the company鈥檚 roll out of the service in Dallas.
Cruise did not respond to comment before this story was published.
Just last week, Cruise executives briefed the city鈥檚 Public Safety committee about the service. The presentation started by letting the committee know that the city can鈥檛 regulate the rideshare company, according to a new law.
鈥淎gainst this backdrop, Cruise has been collaboratively reaching out to us,鈥� Department of Transportation Director Gus Khankarli said at the meeting. 鈥淭hey started that outreach a couple of months ago.鈥�
Khankarli says city staffers met with Cruise executives to basically figure out how Cruise could best implement their service in the city. That resulted in training for city staff and Dallas first responders.
But some council members raised questions about the safety of the vehicles 鈥� before the investigation was launched.
鈥淗ow often is a Cruise vehicle involved in a collision?鈥� District 12 Council Member Cara Mendelsohn asked during last week鈥檚 meeting.
Yariel Diaz, a government affairs manager with the company, says there鈥檚 been 20 鈥渋ncidents鈥� in the state of Texas since November 2022.
鈥淭hose are all specific to Austin where our current operations are,鈥� Diaz said at the meeting.
And he says Cruise teams are responsible for responding to any incidents where a vehicle may be not functioning properly 鈥� like blocking an intersection 鈥� within minutes.
鈥淚鈥檓 not sure how you鈥檙e going to respond in minutes in Dallas,鈥� Mendelsohn said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e a very big city, we鈥檙e very spread out.鈥�
Diaz says the briefing presented last week was missing a map that showed exactly where the Cruise vehicles would be operating 鈥� but it wouldn鈥檛 be the whole city.
Mendelsohn wanted to know more about what kind of data is kept on people who use the service, how well the sensor technology works 鈥� and who law enforcement writes the ticket to, if the vehicle is pulled over.
But those answers have yet to come in.
As of Thursday, no memo answering the council members鈥� questions has been submitted.
Got a tip? Email Nathan Collins at ncollins@kera.org. You can follow Nathan on Twitter .
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