Self-driving Cruise cars with no one behind the wheel will no longer be inhabiting the streets of San Francisco.
Cruise announced Thursday that it is pulling all of its driverless cars off the streets nationwide.
The cars have been at the center of controversy in the city over the past year. They have been involved in crashes and have driven into areas such as construction zones.
“The most important thing for us right now is to take steps to rebuild public trust,” Cruise said.
“Part of this involves taking a hard look inwards and at how we do work at Cruise, even if it means doing things that are uncomfortable or difficult.”
Cruise said it will “proactively pause driverless operations across all of our fleets” as it does internal evaluation. It is not related to any new on-road incidents, per Cruise.
“We think it’s the right thing to do during a period when we need to be extra vigilant when it comes to risk, relentlessly focused on safety, & taking steps to rebuild public trust,” Cruise continued.
On Tuesday, the California Department of Motor Vehicles suspended Cruise’s autonomous vehicle deployment and driverless testing permits, citing “an unreasonable risk to public safety.”
Perhaps the most high-profile incident Cruise was involved in happened on Oct. 2, when a pedestrian was struck by a regular vehicle around 5th and Market Streets and fell into the path of a Cruise car.
The Cruise car ran over the pedestrian before trying to perform a pullover maneuver while the pedestrian remained underneath the vehicle.
Driverless Cruise vehicles operate in San Francisco, Austin and Phoenix.
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