self-driving cars – The News Desk

Massive Layoffs Hit Troubled Robotaxi Developer Cruise

14Dec

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Technology

Massive Layoffs Hit Troubled Robotaxi Developer Cruise

Cruise, General Motors’ self-driving development subsidiary, will lay off almost a quarter of its workforce—about 900 employees—the company announced Thursday. The cuts are part of a broader restructuring to focus the robotaxi unit on a narrower path to commercialization. Instead of expanding its commercial robotaxi service to multiple US cities, the company will relaunch its currently paused service in just one.Cruise wants to “enhance our safety standards and processes before we scale,” company co-president and CTO Mo ElShenawy wrote in a letter to employees announcing the layoffs today. A company blog post said that 24 percent of full-time Cruise employees will be let go, with a focus on field and commercial operations, and corporate staffing, though some engineers are also affected. T...

GM’s Cruise Loses Its Self-Driving License in San Francisco After a Robotaxi Dragged a Person

24Oct

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Technology

GM’s Cruise Loses Its Self-Driving License in San Francisco After a Robotaxi Dragged a Person

California has suspended driverless vehicles operated by the General Motors subsidiary Cruise in the city of San Francisco—just two months after the state began allowing the robotaxis to pick up paying passengers around the clock. The suspension appears to stem primarily from a gruesome October 2 incident, in which a collision with a human-driven vehicle threw a female pedestrian into the path of a driverless Cruise car, which hit and then dragged her approximately 20 feet.The suspension marks a serious setback for the driverless vehicle industry, which has faced charges of under-regulation even as Cruise and others plan to expand to new cities across the US.In a statement, California’s Department of Motor Vehicles says it has determined that Cruise’s vehicles are “not safe for the public...

Teledriving Is a Sneaky Shortcut to Driverless Cars

18Oct

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Technology

Teledriving Is a Sneaky Shortcut to Driverless Cars

On the busy streets of suburban Berlin, just south of Tempelhofer Feld, a white Kia is skillfully navigating double-parked cars, roadworks, cyclists, and pedestrians. Dan, the driver, strikes up a conversation with his passengers, remarking on the changing traffic lights and the sound of an ambulance screaming past in the other direction. But Dan isn’t in the car.Instead, he’s half a mile away at the offices of German startup Vay. The company kits its cars out with radar, GPS, ultrasound, and an array of other sensors to allow drivers like Dan to control the vehicles remotely from a purpose-built station equipped with a driver’s seat, steering wheel, pedals, and three monitors providing visibility in front of the car and to its side.Vay’s approach, which it calls teledriving, is pitched a...

3Oct

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Technology

A woman was found trapped under a driverless car. It’s not what it looks like, the car company said

CNN — A pedestrian in downtown San Francisco was found critically injured and trapped underneath a driverless car Monday night. But the company that operates the autonomous car says it’s not at fault. San Francisco Fire Department spokesperson Justin Schorr told CNN early Tuesday that the victim has multiple life-threatening injuries. The driverless vehicle was operated by Cruise, a San Francisco-based self-driving car company and subsidiary of General Motors (GM). But the company says another vehicle was to blame for the pedestrian’s injury. “A human-driven vehicle struck a pedestrian while traveling in the lane immediately to the left of a Cruise AV,” said Cruise spokesperson Navideh...

Dubai to start robotaxi trials next month in major autonomous push

1Oct

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Technology

Dubai to start robotaxi trials next month in major autonomous push

Editor’s Note: A version of this story appears in CNN’s Meanwhile in the Middle East newsletter, a three-times-a-week look inside the region’s biggest stories. Sign up here. Abu Dhabi, UAE CNN — Dubai is rolling out its first round of robotaxis next month, as a part of a plan to alleviate congestion and accidents. Five fully autonomous electric taxis, operated by a General Motors subsidiary called Cruise, will begin test driving on an 8km (5 mile) stretch in the upscale Jumeirah district of the United Arab Emirates city, according to Ahmed Bahrozyan, the CEO of Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA). Dubai hopes to become the first Middle Eastern city to introduce driverless taxis, B...

GM’s Cruise slashed fleet of robotaxis by 50% in San Francisco after collisions

23Aug

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Technology

GM’s Cruise slashed fleet of robotaxis by 50% in San Francisco after collisions

CNN — California authorities have asked General Motors to “immediately” take some of its Cruse robotaxis off the road after autonomous vehicles were involved in two collisions – including one with an active fire truck – last week in San Francisco. California’s Department of Motor Vehicles confirmed to CNN that it is investigating “recent concerning incidents involving Cruise vehicles in San Francisco.” “The DMV is in contact with Cruise and law enforcement officials to determine the facts and requested Cruise to immediately reduce its active fleet of operating vehicles by 50% until the investigation is complete and Cruise takes appropriate corrective actions to improve road safety,” the departmen...

11Aug

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Technology

Regulators give green light to driverless taxis in San Francisco

CNN — California regulators gave approval Thursday to two rival robotaxi companies, Cruise and Waymo, to operate their driverless cars 24/7 across all of San Francisco and charge passengers for their services. The much-anticipated vote, which followed roughly six hours of public comment both for and against driverless taxis, came amid clashes between the robotaxi companies and some residents of the hilly city. San Francisco first responders, city transportation leaders and local activists are among those who shared concerns about the technology. The California Public Utilities Commission regulates self-driving cars in the state and voted 3-to-1 in favor of Waymo and Cruise expanding their opera...

Uber’s Fatal Self-Driving Car Crash Saga Ends With the Operator Avoiding Prison

28Jul

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Technology

Uber’s Fatal Self-Driving Car Crash Saga Ends With the Operator Avoiding Prison

While Vasquez and Uber may find some closure in the plea deal, self-driving expert Bryant Walker Smith says the NTSB should revisit the Slack issue to find the truth. “I don’t want the story of the first automated vehicle fatality to be a lie. Or be a matter of disputes,” says Walker Smith, a law professor at the University of Southern Carolina. “We should get answers.” Watching a show would suggest some culpability for Vasquez, he says; watching Slack raises questions about Uber’s policies and practices.The alleged problems with Uber’s self-driving car program were serious enough that a former operations manager of the self-driving-truck division, Robbie Miller, had written a whistleblower email to higher-ups in the days before the fatal Arizona crash, warning about the car division’s po...