Nov. 8, 2023: Cruise announced today that it is recalling 950 driverless vehicles used as robotaxis following an Oct. 2 incident in which a robotaxi in San Francisco struck and then dragged a pedestrian trapped under the vehicle as it pulled over to the side of the road. Cruise issued the recall through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Cruise said in its filing that it issued an over-the-air update to its automated driving system in all supervised test fleet vehicles. The company added that all affected driverless fleet vehicles will be repaired before returning to service.
Just days after Cruise lost its permit to operate driverless robotaxis in California, the General Motors subsidiary announced Thursday night on X, formerly known as Twitter, that it is pausing driverless operations across all its fleets.
The company also provided driverless rides in Phoenix; Houston; and Austin, Texas, according to Cruise’s website on Friday morning. The Houston service just started on Oct. 12.
Undeterred by the safety challenges encountered by Cruise in San Francisco, Uber announced Thursday that riders could choose fully autonomous vehicles in Phoenix through a partnership with Waymo, a self-driving technology company owned by Google parent company Alphabet.
