Self-driving cars once seemed like futuristic wonders, however, in tech-savvy San Francisco, autonomous vehicles are now just about everywhere, making deliveries and shuttling passengers.
Questions, however, about safety and how exactly human drivers stack up against their A.I. counterparts don’t always have simple answers. In another incident that snarled up rush hour traffic, a self-driving car shuttling Senior Investigative Reporter Bigad Shaban, swerved, then simply stopped on a major thoroughfare in the Outer Sunset neighborhood, blocking two lanes of traffic for 20 minutes.
Cruise and its major competitor, Waymo, owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet, are two of the largest driverless car companies in the United States. Self-driving cars were not always at fault in those crashes, according to the records. It’s unclear from the data, however, exactly how often other parties were to blame.
Nicholson says for months her department has asked Cruise to make its engineers available to meet with fire department staff to craft solutions to some of the technology’s shortcomings relating to emergency scenes. Nicholson says those requests have so far gone nowhere.“We know that our relationship with city agencies and city departments are very important,” Raman said. “We continue to work with them and have met with them dozens of times over the last 18 months.
In instances where first responders need help moving an unresponsive driverless vehicle, fire department officials have been given a toll free phone number to call to reach a company representative.Waymo never responded to NBC Bay Area’s interview request. According to Cruise, its cars have driven more than 3 million miles, and haven’t been involved in a single death or life-threatening injury.
Soon after being dropped off, Shaban ordered a second ride, where he was accompanied by Eugenia Borges, a driving instructor of 15 years. Borges, who works for Ann’s Driving School in San Francisco, has instructed thousands of beginner drivers during her career and joined the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit to assess the driverless ride.Driving instructor Eugenia Borges and Senior Investigative Reporter Bigad Shaban take a ride in a Cruise autonomous vehicle.
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