Cruise defended its vehicles, stating that they were faced with a difficult traffic problem and that safety is a priority. However, the incident has added to the growing list of criticisms against Cruise, with previous incidents causing traffic jams in Texas and California. The company's CEO, Kyle Vogt, has dismissed these failures as "sensationalized", but the impact on local communities where the cars are being tested is undeniable.
Key takeaways:
- Autonomous carmaker Cruise's self-driving vehicles caused a traffic jam in Houston during beta testing, as they struggled to understand a four-way red light at an intersection.
- The incident drew criticism on social media, with one user sharing a video of police officers unsuccessfully trying to get the unmanned vehicle to move.
- Cruise defended its vehicles, stating that they were faced with a difficult traffic problem and that all vehicles were eventually able to clear the intersection autonomously.
- This incident highlights one of the main criticisms of autonomous vehicles, their lack of contextual nuance, and adds to a series of embarrassments for Cruise, including causing traffic jams in Texas and California and a WiFi failure in San Francisco.