About 20 self-driving taxis operated by General Motors Co.'s Cruise unit caused a traffic jam on San Gabriel Avenue in Austin, Texas, over the weekend, prompting residents to vent on social media. Pictures and videos posted on X (formerly Twitter) show a small fleet of driverless Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles flashing double flashes at a snail's pace, some of them managing to turn around and come face to face in a way that looks like a slow-motion four-wheeled robot engaging in a right-of-way showdown.
In a statement, a Cruise spokesperson suggested that the large number of pedestrians and vehicles brought during rush hour was the cause of the self-driving taxis losing control, but footage taken at the scene showed that there were actually very few people around the vehicles.
"The streets see a lot of pedestrian and vehicular traffic. Our vehicles are designed from the ground up with safety at the forefront, and that includes being careful around pedestrians," the spokesperson said. The spokesperson added that the company was alerted to a congestion incident on San Gabriel Street in Austin and technicians had addressed the issue.
A person who took several photos and videos at the scene said Cruise staff members tried to manually operate the Bolt electric vehicle with a remote control.
This is not the first time that General Motors' robot taxi business has touched the nerves of residents in the city where it is located. Cruise has had several accidents in San Francisco that paralyzed traffic. The most recent one involved a fire truck, causing the company to reduce its self-driving fleet by 50% there. Other notable incidents include cars becoming stuck in wet concrete, colliding with a turning semi-truck, becoming tangled in police tape and rear-ending a municipal bus.
Ironically, in July, Cruise took out a full-page ad in the New York Times saying "Humans are terrible drivers," adding that 42,795 Americans died in car crashes last year. As expected, the former director of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) is not optimistic about this, saying that using people's pain to promote companies is unscrupulous behavior.