zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Tech
/
Ten Cruise Robotaxis Block Traffic Just Days After Expanding Operations
Ten Cruise Robotaxis Block Traffic Just Days After Expanding Operations-May 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:10:23

Image for article titled Ten Cruise Robotaxis Block Traffic Just Days After Expanding Operations

Concert-goers left San Francisco’s Outside Lands Music Festival Friday bracing for bad traffic, not knowning a gaggle of would make the mess much, much worse.

The snarl happened just after 11 p.m. on two narrow streets— Vallejo Street and Grant Avenue—where they cross with Columbus Avenue in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood. Social media posts of the event show up to ten driverless taxis scattered haphazardly across traffic.

reports that the driverless cars were stranded for 15 minutes due to bandwidth issues:

Cruise told NBC Bay Area on Saturday that it was suffering from wireless connectivity issues, which caused delays to cars. It added it’s working to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

This traffic jam coincided with San Francisco’s Outside Lands Music Festival which is going on about four miles away at Golden Gate Park.

On the social media platform X on Saturday, Cruise said that a “large festival posed wireless bandwidth constraints causing delayed connectivity to our vehicles.”

I mean, who could have predicted a large crowd of people at a concert might be using their phones to upload grainy video no one will ever watch. It’s not like that’s been happening since cellphones gained internet or anything. This frustrating incident comes the day after Cruise and Waymo were cleared by the California Public Utilities Commission to not only expand their operating times and coverage, but to start charging for rides as well. San Francisco residents and leadership are not happy with the situation.

“Other than being an inconvenience, it’s dangerous,” said San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin, who said he immediately received complaints from his constituents about the robotaxi jam.

[...]

“There was just a total meltdown,” said Peskin of the incident Friday, “which shows that San Francisco’s government that petitioned for an incremental approach —that we’re right.”

“These things are not ready for prime time,” Peskin said of the autonomous vehicles.

He also said the notion that wireless issues caused this backup “is scary as heck if you think about the fact that moving these vehicles out of traffic requires cell service.”

Peskin worries about what would happen if a natural disaster, for example, knocked out cell service. He referred to autonomous vehicles as “amazing devices,” but is among the local leaders arguing that “they should not be expanded until the technology has been worked out.”

Cruise says it’s investigating the loss of connection, NBC reports, to prevent it from happening again. But almost exactly a year ago, all over San Fransisco for the same reason—loss of connection to main server.

Both Waymo and Cruise have had problems keeping cars moving on the road safely. Two . A Waymo taxi even . And when it comes to emergency vehicles, both self-driving car taxis tend to , where a human drive would be able to negotiate the situation.

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Tech
Volkswagen EVs Can Now Power Your House For Two Days (Update)
Volkswagen EVs Can Now Power Your House For Two Days (Update)
Experts have said that one of the ways to speed up EV adoption is for them to support . The ability for owners to power their house off their car or from the grid is vital. Just nine EVs on the market currently support bidirectional charging, but now VW...
May 14, 2025
GM Says It's Dropping Apple CarPlay And Android Auto Because They're Unsafe (Update)
GM Says It's Dropping Apple CarPlay And Android Auto Because They're Unsafe (Update)
GM is still dealing with the fallout of its decision to drop Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in favor of developing its own in-house system. In the last eight months, the company has had to deal with while still maintaining its in-house system will be “.” Since neither of...
May 14, 2025
Costco Will Sell The Chevy Blazer EV At A Discount To Go With Your Rotisserie Chicken
Costco Will Sell The Chevy Blazer EV At A Discount To Go With Your Rotisserie Chicken
knows that you keep coming back for the and Kirkland brand, but you can now also buy a cheaper at your local warehouse. Chevy notified its dealers that members are eligible for a $1,000 rebate on the through January 2, according to . The discount is part of ,...
May 14, 2025
Biden’s First EV Charging Station Goes Online After $7.5 Billion In American EV Investments
Biden’s First EV Charging Station Goes Online After $7.5 Billion In American EV Investments
Despite in investments for the development of in the , not a single charging station had gone live thanks to — until now. The first EV charger paid for by Biden’s Bipartisan deal has come online in Ohio, according to , which marks the operational start of what the...
May 14, 2025
Truck Fans Would Rather Wait For A Toyota Tacoma EV Than Buy A F-150 Lightning Or Cybertruck
Truck Fans Would Rather Wait For A Toyota Tacoma EV Than Buy A F-150 Lightning Or Cybertruck
fans are already cooling on despite more options on the market and news of upcoming models from the likes of Chevy and Ram. The and have yet to be released, while the has recently joined the and for sale in the U.S. And, yet, all of these current and...
May 14, 2025
Danish Investors Dump Tesla Shares After Elon Musk Calls Strikes In Sweden 'Insane'
Danish Investors Dump Tesla Shares After Elon Musk Calls Strikes In Sweden 'Insane'
Danish pension fund PensionDanmark is dumping all of its stock and putting the U.S. EV maker on its exclusion list of the companies it chooses to invest in – or not. The fund is selling all of its shares due to Elon Musk’s refusal to enter into labor agreements...
May 14, 2025
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved