{"id":1245,"date":"2024-02-19T13:05:29","date_gmt":"2024-02-19T13:05:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/19\/self-driving-cruise-vehicle-accused-of-nearly-hitting-kids-in-two-separate-close-calls-one-day-apart-2\/"},"modified":"2024-02-19T13:05:29","modified_gmt":"2024-02-19T13:05:29","slug":"self-driving-cruise-vehicle-accused-of-nearly-hitting-kids-in-two-separate-close-calls-one-day-apart-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/19\/self-driving-cruise-vehicle-accused-of-nearly-hitting-kids-in-two-separate-close-calls-one-day-apart-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Self-driving Cruise vehicle accused of nearly hitting kids in two separate close calls one day apart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Cruise, the driverless car company owned by General Motors, is back in the spotlight after another close call with a pedestrian.<\/p>\n

The California Department of Motor Vehicles is investigating allegations that a self-driving vehicle operated by Cruise nearly hit a 7-year-old boy after it failed to yield to him and his family while they crossed the street in San Francisco last year, according to DMV records obtained by NBC News.<\/p>\n

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The family says the driverless Cruise car headed straight toward them as they crossed the street.<\/p>\n

The car \u201cwas fully stopped, and then it started when he had gotten maybe a third of the way or halfway across the intersection,\u201d said Sascha Retailleau, who was crossing 20th Street near the intersection of York Street with his wife and son in their Mission District neighborhood on the evening of Aug. 14. \u201cIt started to accelerate towards us like we weren\u2019t there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Retailleau said the car swerved as it approached, right toward his young son, Luke, who said he had to rush ahead to avoid being hit. Retailleau reported the incident to the DMV, which told NBC News it couldn\u2019t disclose any details of its ongoing investigation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I didn\u2019t run, it would have hit me, probably,\u201d said Luke, 7. \u201cI felt scared.\u201d<\/p>\n

Luke, 7, says a driverless Cruise car nearly hit him while he was walking with his parents near his home in San Francisco last summer.<\/span>Michael Horn \/ NBC Bay Area<\/span><\/p>\n

An eerily similar near-miss was caught on camera just the day before in the city\u2019s Pacific Heights neighborhood. The video, posted to the website Reddit and later obtained by regulators, shows a Cruise car accelerating straight toward two women and two children walking in a crosswalk. The vehicle then brakes and swerves around them at the last second.<\/p>\n

Cruise acknowledged its vehicle was involved but declined to comment further, citing an ongoing federal investigation.<\/p>\n

As for the similar near-collision reported by Retailleau, Cruise said its records show none of its driverless cars traveled through the specific intersection around the time Retailleau and his family were crossing the street.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have reviewed data and video in response to this complaint, but to date, we have not identified a Cruise driverless [autonomous vehicle] traveling in the locations on the dates or times provided that encountered any pedestrians,\u201d Cruise spokesperson Erik Moser said. \u201cWe are committed to operating with safety and transparency and continue to investigate this incident.\u201d<\/p>\n

Retailleau, a mechanical engineer who has built robots himself, says there\u2019s no mistaking what he saw that day: a driverless Cruise car with the company\u2019s signature orange stripe.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were scared at first, and then I was just angry, super angry,\u201d Retailleau said. \u201cMy kid could have been hurt or killed by this Cruise vehicle.\u201d<\/p>\n

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating at least four incidents involving Cruise vehicles and pedestrians, including the one posted on Reddit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) has received reports of incidents in which Automated Driving System (ADS) equipped vehicles operated by Cruise LLC (Cruise) may not have exercised appropriate caution around pedestrians in the roadway,\u201d the agency stated in a summary of its investigation.<\/p>\n

Retailleau reached out to Cruise to explain how one of its driverless cars nearly hit his son, but after he gave the company all the details it asked for, he said, he is still waiting to hear back more than five months later.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no apology,\u201d he said. \u201cThere was no \u2018we\u2019ll try to make this right.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Cruise acknowledged to the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit that it never replied to the family, adding that it apologizes for the lack of communication.<\/p>\n

Retailleau said: \u201cThey shouldn\u2019t be allowed to have 2,000 pounds of metal rolling through the streets of San Francisco, potentially endangering other people. Here is a company that is beta testing on the public.\u201d<\/p>\n

The embattled car company is at the center of at least five separate state and federal investigations looking into its safety record and whether it purposefully misled regulators and the public. Cruise denies the accusations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cruise\u2019s fleet of 400 driverless cars has been grounded since October. It suspended operation of its driverless vehicles in San Francisco; Austin, Texas; Phoenix; and Houston after California regulators determined the company posed an \u201cunreasonable risk to public safety.\u201d\u00a0Cruise hasn\u2019t announced when or where it expects to get its cars back on the road.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cruise declined an interview request from NBC News. In a statement, it said that \u201cwe are focused on advancing our technology and earning back public trust.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cruise\u2019s driverless vehicles have remained off the road for more than three months. <\/span>Michael Horn \/ NBC Bay Area<\/span><\/p>\n

Critics, including top lawmakers, continue to argue the driverless car industry lacks oversight, saying regulations have failed to keep up with the technology.<\/p>\n

Late last year, NBC News exposed a loophole that has allowed driverless cars in California to avoid penalties when they break the rules of the road.\u00a0Across the state, traffic tickets issued for moving violations must be issued to actual drivers, according to the DMV, so driverless vehicles have essentially been immune from those fines.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really been a very glaring hole in the law,\u201d said California Assembly member Phil Ting, who represents communities in San Francisco and nearby San Mateo counties. \u201cThis is new technology, and we have to get it right the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ting wants driverless car companies held liable and the traffic tickets sent to them when their vehicles violate traffic rules, so he is pushing for a new state law after the recent NBC News investigation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cReally appreciate that story for coming out and highlighting, frankly, the need for the legislation that I\u2019m introducing,\u201d Ting said.\u00a0\u201cI think your specific story validates everything I\u2019ve been hearing in San Francisco.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018This is new technology, and we have to get it right the first time,\u2019 says state Assembly member Phil Ting.<\/span>Michael Horn \/ NBC Bay Area<\/span><\/p>\n

The Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association, which represents the largest driverless car companies in America, says it is willing to support closing the legal loophole.<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/strong>It has never been the expectation of the autonomous vehicle industry that our vehicles are not able to be ticketed,\u201d CEO Jeff Farrah said.\u00a0\u201cIf there is clarification that needs to be made in California on this issue \u2026 we are committed to sitting down and working that through with the appropriate policymakers.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Ting\u2019s legislation passes, it most likely wouldn\u2019t take effect until 2025, giving autonomous vehicles about another year of traffic ticket amnesty before they begin facing the same types of penalties and fines as human drivers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no way for law enforcement to really hold them accountable,\u201d Ting said. \u201cThere\u2019s no way for law enforcement to really engage with these vehicles.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cruise, the driverless car company owned by General Motors, is back in the spotlight after another close call with a pedestrian. The California Department of Motor Vehicles is investigating allegations that a self-driving vehicle operated by Cruise nearly hit a 7-year-old boy after it failed to yield to him and his family while they crossed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1246,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}