California regulator probes crashes involving GM's Cruise robotaxis

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

California's autos regulator said on Friday it is investigating «recent concerning incidents» involving autonomous vehicles operated by General Motors unit Cruise in San Francisco and asked the company to take half its robotaxis off the roads. The statement from California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) came after a Cruise robotaxi was involved in a crash with an emergency vehicle in San Francisco late on Thursday, the latest accident involving the self-driving cars. The regulator also said it has asked Cruise to immediately reduce its active fleet of vehicles by 50% until the investigation is complete and Cruise takes actions to improve road safety.

Cruise has agreed to a 50% reduction, it added. «The DMV reserves the right, following investigation of the facts, to suspend or revoke testing and/or deployment permits» if it is determined to be an unreasonable risk to public safety, the regulator said in a statement. Cruise said one of its cars «entered the intersection on a green light and was struck by an emergency vehicle that appeared to be en route to an emergency scene» after 10 p.m.

on Thursday (0500 GMT Friday). The car «did identify the risk of a collision and initiated a braking maneuver, reducing its speed, but was ultimately unable to avoid the collision,» the company, which is investigating the incident, said in a statement on Friday. Initial investigation shows the collision occurred when a fire truck was operating in an emergency with its forward facing red lights and siren on, the San Francisco Police Department said in a statement to Reuters.