Both Califoria’s Department for Motor Vehicles and Public Utilities Commission have revoked Cruise’s license to carry fee paying passengers in their robotaxis. Cruise, following this, has “paused” the operation of their fleet. This all stems from an incident on 2 October 2023, where a car driven by a human hit a pedestrian and they were knocked into the pathway of one of Cruise’s cars which could not stop in time and trapped the pedestrian underneath the vehicle.
The DMV claims Cruise shared partial video that showed up to the point of the vehicle stopping. However, the DMV now states there was more as they were not shown that the Cruise vehicle tried to move to the side of the road with the lady still trapped beneath the car.
The DMV stated that “the manufacturers vehicles are not safe for public operation”.
To read more click this Vice article link here.
For the next stage of the story, click this Tech Crunch article link here.
To read the DMV’s own documentation on their decision, click this link here.
For Cruise’s Twitter post regarding their pause, click this link.
Forbes have a thoughtful piece on what has happened and what Cruise can and should do next. To read that, click this link here.
Mercedes-Benz has now released the user manuals for their Drive Pilot Level 3 automated driving system. Looking at the documentation there are a number of inconsistencies and contradictions. Click this link to a piece from Philip Koopman on LinkedIn highlighting the issues in the text. Reading the information, we wouldn’t use the system as we have no idea if we would be held accountable or Mercedes, in the event of an issue.
Following a £1.3 billion investment in the Chinese EV maker, Leapmotor, Stellantis will start selling their vehicles in Europe from 2024. No details have been revealed as to what models they would be. We also ask if it is the technology side of things that Stellantis is really after. You can read more, by clicking this link to an Autocar story.
The RAC has explained that all fuel retailers should be lowering their prices by at least 5p per litre, thanks to the drop in wholesale costs. They also point out how this is helping to ensure that inflation remains high. If you would like to read more,
