The San Francisco Cops Division is actually looking into an Oct 2 case that kept a female thrust under a Boat trip robotaxi after being actually struck through a human-driven lorry.
Video grabbed through Boat trip and also seen through TechCrunch reveals a robotaxi stopping and afterwards overruning a passerby that is actually stocking the road after being actually hit through a human-driven auto and also released before the independent lorry. Boat trip stated the chauffeur of the lorry that originally reached the mundane took off the setting.
Cruise stated in its own profile of the occasions that the robotaxi “stopped strongly” to decrease influence. Still, the passerby was actually tromped and afterwards thrust under the lorry, depending on to cops in addition to video clip coming from local area spectators that reveal the individual under the robotaxi.
TechCrunch checked out the video clip, which reveals a Boat trip lorry quit at a traffic control and afterwards going ahead when it switched environment-friendly. The cams, that includes a forward-facing, rear-facing and also side-facing cams, catches a human-driven lorry in the left side street increasing with the junction. Minutes later on, the video clip reveals an individual, that has actually entered into the road on the much remaining edge, being actually reached due to the human-driven auto at that point soaring over the main bonnet, up onto the roofing of the lorry and afterwards down the correct edge just before coming under the road. The mundane landed in the street to the right of the human-driven lorry, which is actually where the Boat trip robotaxi was actually.
Police are still investigating the matter. A San Francisco Cops Department spokesperson released a statement:
On 10/02/23 at approximately 9:31 pm officers responded to 5th and Market Streets regarding a vehicle collision involving a pedestrian. Officers arrived on scene and discovered an autonomous vehicle struck an adult pedestrian. Officers rendered aid and summoned medics to the scene and transported the pedestrian to the hospital. The medical condition of the pedestrian is unknown at this time.
The autonomous vehicle remained on scene and did not have an occupant at the time of the collision. The operator of the autonomous vehicle is cooperating with the investigation. We believe that another vehicle that was not an autonomous vehicle may have been initially involved in the collision, but the vehicle or driver were not present at the scene during our investigation. The SFPD Traffic Collision Investigations Unit is leading the investigation and is looking into the factors that lead to this collision. Anyone with information is asked to contact SFPD at 415-575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411 and begin the message with SFPD.
Cruise was quick to weigh in on the incident, taking to social media site X to give its account.
“At approximately 9:30 pm on October 2, a human-driven vehicle struck a pedestrian while traveling in the lane immediately to the left of a Cruise AV,” the post said. “The initial impact was severe and launched the pedestrian directly in front of the AV. The AV then braked aggressively to minimize the impact. The driver of the other vehicle fled the scene, and at the request of the police the AV was kept in place. Our heartfelt concern and focus is the wellbeing of the person who was injured and we are actually actively working with police to help identify the responsible driver.”
The event is the latest in a string of crashes and other incidents such as blocking traffic and driving into wet cement that has plagued Cruise operations in San Francisco. Based on Cruise’s account it appears the company wasn’t at fault in the initial impact of the pedestrian. An investigation should help determine if the AV could have avoided the pedestrian at all.
But in a city already divided on robotaxis, whether Cruise is to blame might not concern. The incident comes at a critical time for Cruise, a company trying to scale robotaxi operations in San Francisco and begin testing and eventually charge for rides in more than a dozen U.S. cities.
Cruise and Waymo won approval in August from the California Public Utilities Commission to expand commercial operations in San Francisco. The CPUC, the agency that regulates ride-hailing operations including those involving robotaxis, approved Cruise and Waymo on August 10 for final permits that allow the companies to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, expand their fleets and charge for rides throughout the city.
Just days later, Cruise was involved in a crash with an emergency response vehicle, prompting the California Division of Motor Vehicles, which also regulates independent vehicles, to request Cruise reduce its fleet by 50% until it could complete an inspection.
