Cruise, owned by GM, has been targeted with accusations that its vehicles are not true self-driving ones since they often necessitate assistance from human beings in the role of "remote assistants" during complex drives. Cruise has informed CNBC that before halting activities last month, it had about one remote assistant per every 15 to 20 cars in its fleet. A representative for the company has revealed that these advisers usually supply "route guidance" to the autonomous taxis, but do not take control of them remotely.
In response to suggestions that Cruise's robotaxis aren't truly self-driving, yet involve frequent intervention from human operators in a remote operations center, CEO Kyle Vogt posted on Hacker News to confirm such assistance, claiming that "Cruise AVs are being remotely assisted (RA) 2-4% of the time on average, in complex urban environments." A Cruise spokesperson further verified the CEO's comments. After a pedestrian was injured in a collision involving one of its driverless vehicles in October, the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) stripped the company of its permit to operate in the state unless a driver is present. The DMV alleged that Cruise had misrepresented details concerning the incident's safety and failed to provide the full video. Waymo, meanwhile, has retained its permit to continue operating in San Francisco.
Last week, a New York Times story examined the potential causal factors of safety issues associated with Cruise and their adverse impact on its reputation and business. According to the story, workers of Cruise intervened to aid their cars about every two and a half to five miles. Vogt commented on Hacker News that the figure was a reference to the frequency at which Cruise robotaxis initiate a remote assistance session. He added that many of these session are quickly resolved or comprise of confirmation requests, taking only seconds, and some longer ones involve the AV being guided through tricky situations. When asked for clarification, the Cruise spokesperson responded that a remote assistance session is triggered approximately every four to five miles, and usually happens proactively when the AV needs to find an alternate route or identify an object. The spokesperson also said that 98% of sessions are answered within three seconds and that advisors must go through a two-week training before beginning their job. The officer noted that the ratio of remote assistance advisors to driverless vehicles on the road is roughly 1:15-20. Missy Cummings, an autonomous systems expert at George Mason University and a safety advisor to NHTSA, remarked that monitoring operations of drones, robotics, and autonomous vehicles has been an industry standard. She expressed concern about potential issues with human operators and the need to know whether Cruise vehicles involved in collisions called back for remote help, to which the Cruise spokesperson refrained from commenting until reviews of the October 2 incident were complete. GM reported losses of $1.9 billion on Cruise between January and September, with $732 million in the third quarter alone.
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