Self-driving taxi swarms have stagnated traffic for hours at junctions after one of the first public tests of technology failed.
More than 12 self-driving cars, run by San Francisco’s unmanned car company Cruise, stopped for about two hours before arriving at the scene on Wednesday.
The company has not disclosed why the vehicle stopped or why multiple vehicles broke down in the same location. Some are stationary at the entrance to the intersection junction, while others are stopped at the exit.
Cruises backed by General Motors began charging unmanned taxi passengers in San Francisco last week.
This is one of the first real-world robot taxi services in a big city. There is no safe driver in the front seat of the vehicle.
With a company license, taxis can only operate from 10 pm to 6 am, and cars are restricted to certain streets. Considered a leader in self-driving technology, Cruise generally offered free vehicles for several months before launching paid services.
“Earlier this week, we had a problem with some vehicles clustering,” Cruise said. “It was resolved and did not affect passengers, but we apologize for any inconvenience.”
In April, police officers stopped a cruise vehicle that was found to be driving without headlights after dark. They contacted the company after being initially confused by the lack of a driver in the car to ask questions.
Last year, we found a car driven by Waymo, a spin-off of Google’s self-driving car, repeatedly moving up and down quiet dead ends on the streets of San Francisco. Residents claim that more than 50 cars arrive a day. ..