Cruise Automation Hits a Bump: 950 Driverless Cars Recalled After Accident

Cruise, General Motors’ self-driving car division, has issued a recall for 950 of its autonomous vehicles after a robotaxi was involved in a pedestrian accident. The recall follows an incident in San Francisco where a pedestrian was hit by another vehicle, then struck and dragged by a Cruise robotaxi, which failed to stop in time. This has raised concerns over the Cruise Automated Driving Systems’ collision detection capabilities, prompting a recall to address software issues that may not respond correctly post-collision.

The incident has led to broader questioning of Cruise’s technology, which GM touts as central to its future revenue growth, despite significant losses this quarter. As a result of the accident and subsequent evaluation, Cruise has paused operations nationwide and halted production of its fully autonomous vehicle, the Cruise Origin. The company suggests that without the software update, similar incidents could occur every 10 to 100 million miles driven.

With two federal investigations underway concerning the safety of its autonomous vehicles, including failures to yield to pedestrians, Cruise has acknowledged the possibility of future recalls to improve safety. Cruise operates across multiple states, including Arizona and Texas, and competes with other major players like Waymo to dominate the burgeoning autonomous vehicle market.