by A self-driving cruise vehicle owned by General Motors Corp is seen outside the company's headquarters in San Francisco.
Heather Somerville | Reuters
The California Department of Motor Vehicles on Tuesday suspended Cruise's deployment and testing permits for its autonomous vehicles, effective immediately.
The news follows safety concerns and incidents since Cruise, owned by General Motors, received approval in August for round-the-clock robotax service in San Francisco.
“When there is an unreasonable risk to public safety, DMV may immediately suspend or revoke permits,” the California DMV said in a statement.
The DMV said the suspension was based on a number of factors. He cited the regulations, which state that “the department has determined that the manufacturer's vehicles are not safe for public operation” and “the manufacturer has misrepresented any information related to the safety of its vehicles' autonomous technology.”
The decision was also based on the policy that “any act or omission by a manufacturer or one of its agents, employees, contractors or designees that the department finds poses an unreasonable risk to the manufacturer's testing of autonomous vehicles on public roads. to society”, the statement of the department says.
“We learned at 10:30 a.m. today that the California DMV has suspended our driverless permits,” Cruise spokeswoman Hannah Lindow told CNBC in a statement. “As a result, we will stop operating our driverless AVs in San Francisco.”
Cruise said he will continue to cooperate with the California DMV's investigation.
Last week, federal auto safety regulators said they were investigating Cruise for injuries to pedestrians. The investigation, led by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, was prompted by numerous reports of pedestrian injuries and cruise vehicles in recent months and involves approximately 594 self-driving cruise vehicles.
Cruz's 24/7 robotaxi service, approved by the California Public Utilities Commission more than two months ago by a 3-to-1 vote, makes San Francisco the first major US city to allow two robotaxi companies to compete for “24/7” service. . .” It allows Waymo, owned by Google parent company Alphabet, and Cruise to expand their fleets as needed and charge fares at any time of day.
A day after the approval, up to 10 of Cruz's driverless cars caused a traffic jam in San Francisco. On Aug. 18, after Cruise received its extended service permit, the DMV required Cruise to “immediately reduce its active fleet of operating vehicles by 50%” pending an investigation, according to the DMV.
The DMV said Tuesday that it had provided Cruise with guidance to apply to have his permits reinstated, according to the department, but that it would not approve such an appeal unless Cruz met requirements “to the satisfaction of the department.”
The DMV's decision will not affect Cruz's safety driver testing permit, according to the department.
Last week, Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt was published on LinkedIn that “Safety is our top priority and our passion is continuous improvement. As a result, our AVs continue to improve.”
