General Motors (GM) recalled 950 Cruise driverless vehicles after a pedestrian was dragged underneath one of the vehicles in San Francisco in October.<\/p>\n
According to a report filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a person was crossing the street in a crosswalk on Oct. 2 when they were struck by a human-driven car. The pedestrian bounced off the windshield of the car and into the path of a Cruise robotaxi. The robotaxi braked aggressively but was unable to stop before rolling over the woman.<\/p>\n
The recall addresses two issues with Cruise’s self-driving software. First, the software may improperly respond after a crash. In some cases, the cars may pull over out of traffic instead of remaining stationary, which could pose a hazard to other road users. Second, the software may not be able to accurately predict the movements of pedestrians and other objects, which could increase the risk of collisions.<\/p>\n
Cruise said it will update its collision response software and address the issues with pedestrian prediction. The company is also hiring a chief safety officer and conducting a technical root cause analysis of the early October pedestrian crash.<\/p>\n