Officials with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) are seeking answers from Cruise on its performance and technology on public streets to decide whether the Origin self-driving vehicle, which features no seatbelts, steering wheel, or brake pedals, is allowed to be deployed.
This comes in response to concerns from San Fransisco officials that the self-driving car has caused many traffic problems, and the new model could create more problems.
Owned by General Motors, Cruise wants a temporary exemption from federal motor vehicle safety standards for its Origin model.
The NHTSA said it are in the process of reviewing Cruise’s application, but needs answers to additional questions about the safety and operations of the vehicle to make its decision. NHTSA officials are also seeking info about when the company will contact first responders or dispatch its own crews, adequate entry and exit systems that don’t impact fellow road users, and when vehicles decide to stop in the middle of the lane versus pulling over to the curb.
The agency is also asking about an incident that happened last June in which 13 Cruise vehicles stopped on a street in San Fransisco, and what technology is preventing this from happening again.
“We appreciate NHTSA moving the petition forward and will continue working closely with the agency to ensure the safe and responsible deployment of the Origin, the first purpose-built passenger AV set to be manufactured and deployed in the United States,” said Hannah Lindow, a spokesperson for Cruise.
Officials from the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) and the San Francisco County Transportation Authority (SFCTA) raised concerns to federal authorities about chaos on public streets caused by Cruise self-driving cars.
In a letter addressed to the NHTSA, the heads of the two transit agencies made a number of policy recommendations echoed by federal regulators, including data reporting on vehicle failures that block roadways and response times by company staff.
The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) permits self-driving car companies to operate their vehicles on public streets, while the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) governs services that carry passengers.
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Source: SFStandard.com
