Driverless cars comment in austin

a stepSelf-driving cruise cars line up to leave the Cruise Depot in downtown Austin on September 26, 2023. Cruise, a San Francisco-based self-driving car company, is one of several self-driving companies testing vehicles in Austin.

Self-driving vehicle company Cruise has suspended operations across the country, including Austin.

The company announced its decision on social media on Thursday. Cruz said she is re-evaluating her operations and trying to gain the public’s trust after becoming the subject of a federal investigation into multiple pedestrian-related incidents in San Francisco.

The company said in an email to KUT that the decision is not related to any new accidents on the road. “We have decided to proactively halt driverless operations across all of our fleets while we take the time to examine our processes, systems and tools and consider how we can best operate in a way that commands the public’s trust,” the email said.

Human-operated cruise cars will continue to hit the roads.

Austin residents have complained that the city is not doing enough to screen Cruz, said Paige Ellis, an Austin City Council member who chairs the city’s mobility committee. He said the city has limited ability to regulate self-driving vehicles.

“The difficult thing is that the City Council doesn’t have much influence over these companies operating in a state like Texas,” he said. “A lot of times the Legislature says we can’t change the rules on a city-by-city basis to make sure we’re allowing technological advances that benefit the city.”

Councilman Zohaib “Zo” Qadri said he often received complaints that the cruisers were obstructing traffic or intimidating his constituents.