Cruise robotaxi crashes into firetruck in San Francisco
The Cruise driverless vehicle was transporting one person at the time of the crash
Cruise car collides with San Francisco Fire Department truck
The driverless car allegedly did not yield to the firetruck's flashing lights as it went through an intersection Aug. 17, 2022. (Credit: John Freeman)
An autonomous vehicle belonging to Cruise’s robotaxi fleet and a fire truck collided during a late-night wreck in San Francisco last week, according to both city police and the company.
In a post Friday morning on social media site X, formerly Twitter, Cruise said the two vehicles slammed into each other Thursday night in a downtown intersection while the company’s driverless car was transporting one person.
The crash with the emergency vehicle, which Cruise said "appeared to be en route to an emergency scene," happened after the robotaxi "entered the intersection on a green light," according to its post.
The fire truck was "operating in a ‘Code 3’ emergency mode" that included activated lights and sirens at the time, a San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) spokesperson told FOX Business. Officers responded around 10:20 p.m.
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Photos of the incident suggested the Cruise robotaxi sustained damage to its right side, particularly on its doors. The airbags also appeared to have deployed, according to the pictures.
A driverless Cruise was involved in a crash in San Francisco Aug. 17, 2023. | Fox News
Cruise said in a blog post Friday its autonomous vehicle "positively identified the emergency vehicle almost immediately as it came into view, which is consistent with our underlying safety design and expectation."
The company said "several factors" added to the "complexity of this specific incident." It pointed to the intersection being "significantly occluded by buildings" making "visual identification more challenging" and said the fire truck "was in the oncoming lane of traffic, which it had moved into to bypass the red light," something that made tracking its path more "complicated."
"The Cruise AV did identify the risk of a collision and initiated a braking maneuver, reducing its speed, but was ultimately unable to avoid the collision," Cruise said.
Employees wearing florescent jackets labeled "Cruise" were at the crash site after the accident, according to a photo. Footage also showed a tow truck arrived to assist with the response.
A driverless Cruise sits at an intersection after a crash in San Francisco Aug. 17, 2023. | Fox News
Cruise said it has "been in contact to offer support and will remain in touch" with the individual riding in the robotaxi that got hit. That person went to the hospital for "non-life-threatening injuries," a SFPD spokesperson told FOX Business.
In a statement, the California Department of Motor Vehicles told Fox News Digital it had "requested Cruise to immediately reduce its active fleet of operating vehicles by 50% until the investigation is complete and Cruise takes appropriate corrective actions to improve road safety."
That request was made a day after the accident.
A driverless Cruise sits at an intersection following a collision in San Francisco Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023. According to an eyewitness, the driverless car failed to yield to the firetruck’s emergency lights as it passed through an intersection, resulting in the crash. | Fox News
The General Motors subsidiary said in its blog post Friday it would "continue to work in partnership with regulators and city departments on EMV interactions to reduce the likelihood of incidents like these happening again."
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Cruise and another autonomous vehicle company, Waymo, have had clearance to operate at all hours in San Francisco since Aug. 10.
In addition to San Francisco, Cruise has driverless taxi rides available in Austin and Phoenix, according to its website. The company said Tuesday on social media it had kicked off conducting some initial testing in Raleigh, North Carolina, something it has done in other cities previously.
Sarah Rumpf-Whitten and Elizabeth Pritchett contributed to this report.