A driverless Chevrolet Bolt operated by GM’s Cruise robotaxi company was involved in a light accident March 23 in San Francisco, where it rear-ended a municipal bus in the right lane of the road.
Photos of the crash were posted on Twitter by several users, including @d_bau13 and @BrokeAssStewart (via @realpaintedladies_sf on Instagram), and judging by the images, the San Francisco Muni bus sustained minor damage, while the electric Chevy Bolt seemed to be in rougher shape.
Cruise replied to one of the tweets by saying there was nobody inside the robotaxi and no injuries were reported, adding the damaged hatchback was removed from the scene.
In a brief statement issued separately from the Twitter reply, GM’s self-driving company said: “Yesterday, one of our vehicles made contact with the rear of a Muni bus. No injuries were reported, and there were no passengers present in the Cruise AV. We are investigating the incident and will take follow-up actions if appropriate.”
Just two days before this crash, a pair of Cruise’s robotaxis got tangled in caution tape and downed wires after a recent storm that hit San Francisco, blocking traffic and looking like “flies in sticky traps,” according to one of the Twitter users who posted photos of the incident.
Cruise claims its autonomous taxis, which started operating in San Francisco in June 2022, have covered more than 700,000 miles without the help of a human driver. At the same time, however, the company’s vehicles have been involved in several incidents, with cars getting stuck on the road for no apparent reason on more than one occasion.
More often than not, the cars were quickly freed by human operators and no one was injured, but in one instance where a Cruise robotaxi collided with a Toyota Prius, people in both cars suffered injuries, prompting the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to formally open a probe into how the company’s autonomous taxis operate. A conclusion has yet to be drawn.
Abby Andrews