On August 11, around 23:00, ten unmanned Cruise cars paralyzed traffic in the central part of San Francisco. The incident occurred just after the California authorities allowed the company to expand the use of robot cars in the city.
Traffic was stopped for at least 15 minutes. According to the company, the failure occurred due to problems with cellular communication.
The traffic jam caused another flurry of criticism of robot cars among city residents. Last week, during a hearing, representatives of the fire service, police, and the municipal transportation agency prepared a report on at least 600 incidents involving self-driving cars since June 2022.
Opponents of robot cars demanded that the authorities not allow Cruise and Waymo to operate unmanned vehicles around the clock in San Francisco. However, the commission voted in favor.
