It seems like a new cringe-worthy robotaxi video from San Francisco surfaces each day. Scott Budman reports.
It seems like a new cringe-worthy robotaxi video from San Francisco surfaces each day.
The latest video comes amid a new order to cut the number of self-driving cars operating in the city.
A Cruise robotaxi was spotted over the weekend sitting in the middle of an intersection on Valencia Street for about a minute before an officer steps up to try to talk to it.
"And we saw the traffic warden trying to communicate with the Cruise driverless car - he was knocking on the window, trying to talk to some speakers to little avail," said San Francisco resident Brian Castagne, who recorded the video.
Castagne said traffic was back up both on Valencia and nearby 21 streets as multiple Cruise taxis worked to navigate their way through.
The video comes less than 48 hours after the California DMV ordered Cruise to cut the number of cars it has on the road by half.
Cruise issued a statement Monday on the order, saying they believe their efforts positively impact overall road safety. The company also said it looks forward to working with the DMV to make any improvement and provide any data they need to reinforce the safety and efficiency on the fleet.
"I wouldn't hesitate to put my children in the backseat of one of these vehicles alone," said Anthony Levandowski, who co-founded Google's self-driving car program now known as Waymo. "
Levandowski, who now serves as CEO of autonomous trucking company Pronto, said the taxis are safe, but are struggling to learn about the world around them.
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"The difficult part is driving naturally, and like a person, and being able to know when to accelerate and make a left turn across traffic, or not hesitate, and honestly, that just takes time," Levandowski said.
