Cruise Automation Robotaxis Literally Grind to a Halt in San Franciso Stop

Cruise Automation robotaxis all stopped working for a number of hours on the last Tuesday of June. The sudden issue meant cars were stranded in the middle of streets blocking other vehicles and causing mass delays.

General Motors and Honda backed Cruise, is one of the companies with the most advanced autonomous driving capabilities at the moment. It had been testing its technology in San Francisco since February, and launched a commercial robotaxi service the week before this incident.

The cars have no human safety driver at all but operate under certain restrictions. They only offer lifts on ‘select streets’ between the hours of 10pm and 6am when the weather conditions are ideal, and they can also drive no faster than 30mph (48 km/h).

Other autonomous driving players annonced lay offs after the delay in launching a robo-taxis service and against a backdrop of adverse market conditions. The financial environment has made it harder for start-ups across the board to raise capital to continue developing their technologes while they still have no revenues.