In an ambitious move reminiscent of movies like “I, Robot,” General Motors (GM) and driverless vehicle technology company Cruise planned to launch a robotaxi program. Also referred to as autonomous vehicles, the purpose was to create a public taxi transportation service that required no actual drivers and no actual human control.
The original plan was to begin testing in 2025 and officially start robotaxi service in 2026 in Tokyo, Japan. Unlike in “I, Robot,” however, the vehicle did not have a human driver who could switch to manual control in the event of an emergency or something that required actual human intelligence and instinct. It is not surprising that such a system went wrong.
One of the Cruise driverless vehicles hit a pedestrian and dragged her along the road before finally stopping. To make a bad situation worse, the company attempted to hide information from the investigation. Ultimately, that accident, plus the time and money required for the program, prompted GM to cancel the program.
The full story of why GM canceled the Cruise robotaxi program
In October 2023, one of Cruise’s self-driving vehicles, named the Cruise AV Panini, hit a pedestrian in San Francisco. The female pedestrian was hit by another vehicle and then knocked down in front of the driverless car. It hit the woman head-on, and she fell out of view of its lidar object detection sensor, so it no longer knew she was there.
The Panini continued to drive, dragging the woman underneath it for 20 feet before finally stopping. The woman survived but was badly injured. An investigative report of the accident by Quinn Emanuel Trial Lawyers stated, “After the AV contacted the pedestrian, an alert and attentive human driver would be aware that an impact of some sort had occurred and would not have continued driving without further investigating the situation.” The logic is sound, and even New York City has set its own robotaxi safety rules requiring them to have a human behind the wheel.
The Department of Motor Vehicles ordered Cruise to halt operations in the state of California. Multiple Cruise executives voluntarily stepped down, including CEO Kyle Vogt. To make matters worse, during the subsequent investigation, Cruise originally submitted an incomplete report to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that withheld information about the woman being dragged. Cruise had to pay a criminal fine because of that.
The fallout from the Cruise robotaxi incident
In December of 2024, GM decided to stop funding Cruise’s robotaxi program. In a surprising statement in the light of the seriousness of what happened, Cruise’s former CEO and founder, Kyle Vogt, posted on his X channel, “In case it was unclear before, it is clear now: GM are a bunch of dummies.”
However, GM continues working to develop innovative vehicle technology that keeps human intelligence at the forefront. In what it calls Super Cruise, GM is working on a program where the vehicle can drive itself if needed, but a human is still there to take control. It relies on improved sensors and cameras to help direct the car and reduce human error. It does require a person behind the wheel so that there is no repeat of the San Francisco incident.
General Motors has been transparent about its reasons to cancel the robotaxi program. The monetary costs and the long time frame of such a program needed to become successful are not worth GM’s investment currently. This incident does serve as a warning for companies developing driverless vehicles, such as the Ford Mustang Mach-E’s self-driving vehicle crash investigation. Removing any human control completely can be a dangerous venture.
