GM Cruise Self-Driving Car Recall After Bus Crash

Driverless Taxi Opens in SF in 2019

Cruise, General Motors’ subsidiary for autonomous vehicles, has issued a voluntary recall to update its driverless cars following a bus crash in San Francisco on March 23, 2023. The incident involved a Cruise autonomous vehicle and an articulated San Francisco Municipal Transit Authority (MUNI) bus. Documents related to the recall indicate that the software glitch only occurs in “certain rare circumstances”.

Filed under the NHTSA Campaign Number 23E029000, Cruise stated that the ADS software could potentially misjudge the movements of articulated vehicles (buses, tractors, or trailers) in three scenarios. The first is when “the ADS perceived both the front section and rear section of an articulated vehicle initially,” while the second is when “the articulated vehicle then maneuvered in such a manner that the rear section of the vehicle fully obstructed the front section of the vehicle.”

“In the final situation, when the articulated vehicle slows near the AV in a few seconds after the front section is blocked, the ADS may wrongly think the front part of the vehicle is still advancing and the back part of the vehicle will keep going with the front section, despite the vehicle decelerating.”

In accordance with Cruise, the unfavorable portion of the ADS Software was introduced by a software program launched on January 12th, 2023. An updated version of the software embedded in all effected automobiles from March 25th moving forward should guarantee that this issue does not take place in the future.

Despite the fact that no further mishaps resulted from the software malfunction, Cruise has willingly submitted a recall order in the spirit of openness and being overcautious. All told, 300 Cruise automated vehicle devices are included in this alert.

Cruise’s self-driving taxis have been running in San Francisco since last year – the first of their kind to be operational in a major metropolis. Numerous accidents were reported afterwards, prompting investigations from the NHTSA. Notwithstanding this, the firm has expressed intentions to broaden its services in 2021, particularly in other major urban centers such as Austin and Phoenix.

Source: NHTSA via Detroit Free Press