Autonomous vehicle company Cruise of San Francisco recalled its software for its fleet of 300 cars following a collision with a MUNI bus. The Cruise taxi got confused by the articulated bus and rear-ended it. Cruise was the first company to win city approval of driverless taxis. The City and County of San Francisco’s Municipal Transportation Agency recorded 92 incidents in which autonomous ride-hailing cars caused problems on city streets between May and December 2022. One of the problems with autonomous vehicles is that the driverless cars have problems identifying uniquely shaped vehicles, such as articulated buses and fire engines. For example, there have been more than a dozen crashes involving Tesla vehicles operating with its Autopilot system engaged that struck emergency first responder vehicles.
Autonomous vehicles pose a danger to pedestrians, cyclists and occupants of other vehicles as they are being tested on public roads in crowded cities. Until the manufacturers of autonomous vehicles have worked out the bugs and problems, these driverless vehicles should not be operating on public roads.