Cruise Pauses Robotaxi Rides: Time for a Safety Check!

After the incident involving a pedestrian on October 2nd, Cruise, the autonomous vehicle company, had its driverless vehicle permit revoked in California. However, the company has now decided to voluntarily halt its supervised and manual robotaxi operation in the US in the near future. This decision is part of a broader safety investigation led by independent engineering consulting firm, Exponent. Initially, Exponent was brought in to analyze the technical cause of the accident mentioned earlier. The suspension of the manual operation will impact approximately 70 vehicles, which is only a small portion of Cruise’s fleet of 950 robotaxis. These vehicles were recalled following the unusual accident caused by a separate hit-and-run incident.

In the same announcement, it was said that Craig Glidden, a member of the General Motors Board of Legal Affairs and Policy and Cruises, will join the subsidiary as Chief Administrative Officer. The CEO oversees Cruise’s legal, communications and finance teams in addition to his current role as GM. The company is also continuing its search for a permanent chief security officer, but will retain “a third-party security expert in the coming weeks to conduct a full assessment of Cruise’s security operations and culture.”

It’s going to be a tough fight for Cruise from here on out. Recent reports found that these robot taxis have trouble spotting children, not to mention the company’s seeming lack of knowledge about child-specific situations on the streets. Despite this known shortcoming, Cruise continued to use its autonomous vehicles on the streets. It’s also been reported that cruise line workers are facing layoffs over the next two weeks as the company struggles to regain the trust of the public and authorities — not just for itself, but for the entire robot taxi industry.