Posts Tagged: cruise

Cruise puts robotaxi operations on pause following California license suspension

Cruise has paused all its driverless operations, the company has announced on LinkedIn and X. The GM-backed self-driving firm explained that it’s taking time to examine its “processes, systems and tools” and that it will “reflect on how [it] can better operate in a way that will earn public trust.” Cruise has been thrust under the spotlight recently after the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) suspended its permits to operate driverless vehicles in the state due to several safety related issues. The California Public Utilities Commission also suspended the license giving Cruise the right to charge passengers for robotaxi rides. 

One of the latest incidents involving a Cruise vehicle happened in early October when a woman was hit by another car and was hurled in front of one of the company’s driverless vehicles. Cruise’s robotaxi stopped on top of her leg and pinned her underneath until first responders arrived and could extract her. The DMV suspended the company’s permits a few weeks afterward. 

As CNBC notes, this move comes shortly after GM CEO Mary Barra said the automaker will support Cruise’s expansion with “safety” as its “gating factor.” TechCrunch says it also comes just a day after an all-hands meeting, wherein CEO Kyle Vogt told his staff that Cruise hasn’t paused operations outside of California. To note, the company has driverless fleets in Phoenix, Austin, Houston, Dallas and Miami, as well. 

The company didn’t elaborate on what examining its tools and systems entail and how exactly it intends to “rebuild public trust.” For now, Cruise will only be deploying autonomous vehicles with drivers behind the wheel. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cruise-puts-robotaxi-operations-on-pause-following-california-license-suspension-051300118.html?src=rss

Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics

California DMV is investigating a Cruise robotaxi’s collision with a fire truck

Cruise will temporarily be deploying fewer autonomous vehicles in San Francisco while investigators are looking into "recent concerning incidents" involving its fleet. According to The New York Times and TechCrunch, the California Department of Motor Vehicles asked the company to cut its fleet in half after an incident wherein one of Cruise's robotaxis collided with a fire truck at an intersection. The fire truck had its sirens and red lights on and was responding to an emergency at the time, while the robotaxi has passengers onboard who sustained non-life-threatening injuries. In another, perhaps less controversial, incident a few days before that, a Cruise vehicle got stuck in wet concrete

The DMV said in a statement that its primary focus is "the safe operation of autonomous vehicles and safety of the public who share the road with these vehicles." It also added that it "reserves the right, following investigation of the facts, to suspend or revoke testing and/or deployment permits" if it determines that a company's vehicles is a threat to public safety. The agency has asked Cruise to limit its driverless vehicles in operation to 50 during daytime and 150 at night, at least until the investigation is done. 

In an explanation about the collision posted on the company's website, Cruise's General Manager for San Francisco, Greg Dietrerich, said the robotaxi identified the emergency vehicle as soon as it came into view. It was also able to distinguish the fire truck's sirens "as soon as it was distinguishable from the background noise." However, it wasn't possible to see vehicles coming from around the corner "until they are physically very close to the intersection" where the incident happened. Further, the autonomous vehicle had trouble predicting the fire truck's path, because it moved into the "oncoming lane of traffic" to bypass a red light. Dietrerich said Cruise's AV identified the risk of a collision and hit the brake to reduce its speed, but it wasn't able to avoid the crash completely due to those conditions. 

The DMV's request comes just a few days after the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) voted in favor of allowing both Cruise and Waymo to charge fares for fully driverless rides any time of the day in San Francisco. Before that, Cruise could only offer fared rides with no safety driver onboard in limited areas of the city between 10PM and 6AM. The only commissioner who voted against the companies' paid ride expansion argued that the CPUC didn't have enough information to accurately evaluate the impact of autonomous vehicles on first responders.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/california-dmv-is-investigating-a-cruise-robotaxis-collision-with-a-fire-truck-093037885.html?src=rss
Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics

If you’ve never considered a cruise before, you will now

If the idea of a cruise has always failed to float your boat, then might you be persuaded if you were told that on the top deck of your ship is a two-level, Ferrari-branded go-kart track?

The post If you’ve never considered a cruise before, you will now appeared first on Digital Trends.

Cool Tech–Digital Trends

How Carnival’s small, wearable Medallion crafts a cruise just for you

Princess Cruise ships will be the first Carnival Corporation brand to offer wearable technology that unlocks new interactions for passengers before, during and after a cruise. The quarter-sized Medallion seamlessly connects guests with the ship’s entertainment, dining, navigation and payment systems and offers artificial intelligence that adapts to every choice that’s made in real time.

The post How Carnival’s small, wearable Medallion crafts a cruise just for you appeared first on Digital Trends.

Wearables–Digital Trends

DIY ‘wrist rockets’ allow inventor to cruise underwater like a human submarine

With the aid of two T100 thrusters, a pair of wrist straps, and an Arduino, YouTuber PeterSripol has built the best pair of ‘wrist rockets’ we’ve ever seen. It’s the only pair we’ve seen, to be honest!

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Cool Tech–Digital Trends