Robotaxis Blocks San Francisco Street For No Reason, Unsurprisingly

Picture this. You are in San Francisco. It is late at night and you are driving back home. You dream of your warm bed. But you arrive at the intersection of Gough and Fulton Street – and shock! Horror! You are forced to stop. The road, it seems, is blocked by robotic axes.

So yes, this actually happened. On Tuesday evening. A Reddit user posted images of what appears to be a small fleet of Cruise robotaxis that just stopped in the middle of the street.

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The robot shaft blocked traffic for a few hours until beefy human workers arrived and cleared them. Where’s John Connor when you need him?

This peaceful protest took place in less than a month since Cruise launched its first fully self-driving commercial services — and it’s not even the first time we’ve seen the company’s autonomous vehicles go down the drain.

In April, a rebellious robot taxi tried to evade police for not having his headlights on at night.

Responding to more details, our AV succumbed to the police vehicle and then pulled over, as intended, to the nearest safe location for the traffic stop. An officer contacted Cruise personnel and no subpoena was issued.

— cruise (@Cruise) Apr 10, 2022

Back then, Cruise rushed to say that everything worked according to planI think they really like NWA there† But the company has not provided an explanation as to why the small fleet… shut down this week.

Until we get a response from Cruise, we only have suspicions. And luckily, I’m full of ideas as to why these autonomous vehicles came to a halt:

1. The robot axis decided to emigrate as a couple and chose the intersection as its starting point.
2. They reached a human level of consciousness, united and went on strike.
3. The technology is not ready yet.

This isn’t the first time self-driving taxis have been involved in funny accidents (you can also check here and here), but I know one thing: it won’t be the last.

Until the pressing issues are resolved, we’re not ready to interact with or rely entirely on an AI driver.