On Tuesday, June 28, more than a half dozen General Motors Cruise robotaxis stopped working in the middle of the street in San Francisco, California. 

The robotaxis blocked traffic for an hour until Cruise employees had to move the vehicles off the street manually. 

Cruise Robotaxis Blocked Traffic

A Reddit user posted photos of the blockade on a subreddit and wrote that the vehicles had been stalled at the intersection of Gough and Fulton Streets in San Francisco. 

A spokesperson for GM Cruise told TechCrunch that they had an issue with the robotaxis that caused them to cluster together. Luckily, the issue was immediately resolved, and there were no passengers affected. 

The company apologized for the inconvenience, and the electric vehicles were recovered through a combination of manual retrieval and remote assistance. 

Also Read: Driverless Taxi Permits of Baidu, Pony.AI in Beijing Have Been Approved | Rides for Free? 

The incident came a week after GM Cruise launched its first-ever driverless, commercial robotaxi service in San Francisco, California. 

GM Cruise's vehicles are initially operating between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. on designated streets and without a human safety operator behind the wheel. 

Issues with Cruise Robotaxis

According to GovTech, the fines for blocking the street sweeper are around 476 per vehicle in San Francisco.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority (SFMTA) did not say if Cruise would receive any fines for blocking the intersection and how it will handle the situation with autonomous vehicles. 

The issue calls into question the policy cities need to build around electric vehicles when they stop working on streets and highways and when they break the law, as well as Cruise's own operational protocol for these types of problems. 

In April, a Cruise vehicle was pulled over police officer because of a malfunctioning headlight. 

A video of the incident that surfaced on Instagram shows the vehicle pulling over when signaled to do so, but when the police tried to open the driver-side door, the car drove off and pulled over a little way down the road and automatically activated its hazards. 

The police officer approached the car again, and no citation was issued. 

Cruise's Commercial Robotaxis

On June 2, General Motors got the final permit it needed to offer its robotaxi service to paying riders in San Francisco, according to CNBC. 

In a blog post, Cruise announced that the authorization is the first-ever Driverless Deployment Permit granted by the California Public Utilities Commission and makes the automaker the first to operate as a commercial, driverless ride-hail service in a major city in the United States. 

GM's vehicles are fully electric and battery-powered, which is also a potential win for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases that contributes to climate change. 

The company told CPUC back in April 2021 that it aims to make California roads safe and they want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 

Earlier, the California Department of Motor Vehicles approved autonomous vehicle deployment permits for both Cruise and Waymo. 

GM Cruise was already offering nighttime rides to the public in San Francisco in its robotaxis, but it had not yet required passengers to pay a far.

Related Article: General Motors Announces Cruise AV Self-Driving Car 

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Sophie Webster