GM’s autonomous driving division, Cruise, began its paid driverless taxi service in San Francisco and officially took its first fares on June 22, 2022. Waymo received approval in February but has yet to start charging fares.

Videos are popping up on the internet of passengers enjoying their first ride in a robotaxi. The videos typically start with them entering the car and then recording the steering wheel moving without any human intervention. Most paying passengers are a little intimidated at first, but settle in and feel comfortable with the experience by the time they reach their destination.

That is if the ride goes according to plan. Other reports have stated issues with Cruise’s fee-based autonomous services. Photos and a description of the Cruise robotaxis blocking several lanes of traffic in San Francisco were shared on Reddit and Twitter. At least seven Cruise vehicles can be seen clustering at an intersection. Vehicles had put on the brakes and completely stop moving.

As a result, Cruise dispatched employees to handle the situation and retrieve the uncooperative vehicles. It’s worth noting that Cruise vehicles can only drive on “select streets” in San Francisco from 10 PM to 6 AM, at speeds no more than 30mph. As we can see, the company still has a few kinks to iron out.

Perhaps the greater concern is from a Wall Street Journal report that states the California Public Utilities Commission is looking into the concerns raised by the anonymous whistleblower. The letter’s author, whose identity has not been revealed, claimed to be a father who had worked at Cruise for several years.

In the letter, the person said Cruise’s vehicles regularly stalled at intersections, blocked lanes of traffic and employees quietly had concerns about the company’s readiness to rollout robotaxis. “My subjective opinion from experiencing this and speaking with others at the company is that employees generally do not believe we are ready to launch to the public,” the whistleblower stated.

The Vexnova Take

We are breaking new ground with AVs and there are bound to be failures and errors along the way. The difficulty of rolling out AVs to a large scale is the necessity to be precise every time. Errors can’t be tolerated long with an inherent risk to people’s lives.

As these vehicles roam San Francisco and other approved cities, millions of data points are collected and will expedite their ability to become perfect. Our hope is the early hiccups of AV don’t lead to severely injuring someone or worse.