The roll-out of so-called ‘robo-taxis’ in the US has stumbled at another hurdle, after one of the autonomous cars became trapped in an intersection, causing a traffic jam which could have been easily avoided if a human driver was behind its steering wheel.
For the second time in as many months, a group of autonomous cars have caused a traffic jam on the streets of a US city, with almost two dozen creating gridlock in Austin, Texas over the weekend.
As reported by Electrek, the autonomous cars – operated by ‘robotaxi’ company Cruise, which is owned by car giant General Motors – were driving near Austin’s University of Texas campus on Saturday night when one of the vehicles became stuck in an intersection.
With one car already in the intersection and unable to navigate itself out, a queue of more autonomous robo-taxis soon began to form behind it, leading to a traffic jam – a video of which was later uploaded to social media platform Reddit.
A spokesperson for Cruise told Electrek the traffic jam was caused by an unexpected detour which led to more cars than expected on a route they wouldn’t usually take, with its programmers unable to reroute the robo-taxis fast enough.
“We prioritise safety in everything we do. It was a crowded, challenging environment; and, there was no pedestrian, vehicle or property damage,” a Cruise statement to Electrek said.
“We fully recognize the inconvenience, and we’ve taken proactive measures to relieve the crowding in the area.”
The Austin incident comes just one month after almost a dozen Cruise autonomous cars caused a similar traffic jam in San Francisco, which has become the hub of robo-taxi development on public roads.
A group of a dozen Cruise robo-taxis reportedly lost connectivity due to a music festival which was occuring more than six kilometres away.
Just a handful of weeks later, Cruise was told to halve the number of autonomous cars it operates in California by the state’s road regulators after multiple incidents – resulting in no more than 50 of its robo-taxis being on the roads during the day and a maximum of 150 at night.
Last month, the California Public Utilities Commission – the state’s regulatory agency for privately owned public utilities – voted in favour of allowing Cruise and fellow ‘robotaxi’ operator Waymo to operate their autonomous cars with greater frequency.
The new rules – which were reportedly passed three votes to one – allow Cruise and Waymo autonomous vehicles to operate for 24 hours per day, seven days a week in San Francisco and part of the nearby San Mateo County.
The post Autonomous cars cause gridlock in yet another US city appeared first on Drive.
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