A pedestrian walking in a San Francisco intersection on Monday night was hit by two cars — first a regular vehicle which hurled her into the path of a driverless taxi that then ran her over, stopping on top of her as she screamed in pain, according to witnesses, investigators and the autonomous taxi company. The horrific crash occurred at 9:35 p.m. at Market and Fifth streets after the traffic light turned green, giving the Cruise car and other car — which had been waiting side-by-side for the light — the right to enter the intersection where a woman was walking, according to video of the crash shown to The Chronicle by Cruise hours after the incident. The other car struck the woman and she rolled off its side and into the path of the driverless taxi, which was carrying no passengers, and ran her over, stopping and pinning her to the ground with its rear axle and tire over a leg, according to video and a photo of the woman under the car taken by a witness that was provided to The Chronicle. Police said driver who first struck the pedestrian fled the scene and they were looking for the car and driver. Austin Tutone, a bicycle delivery person, saw the woman trapped underneath the Cruise car and tried to reassure her as they waited for first-responders. “I told her, 'The ambulance is coming' and that she’d be okay. She was just screaming.” He shared a photo of the aftermath with The Chronicle showing the car tire on the woman’s leg. San Francisco firefighters arrived and used the jaws of life to lift the car off the woman. She was transported to San Francisco General Hospital with “multiple traumatic injuries,” said SFFD Capt. Justin Schorr. It appears that once the Cruise car sensed something underneath its rear axle, it came to a halt and turned on its hazard lights, Schorr said. Firefighters obstructed the sensors of the driverless car to alert the Cruise control center. He said representatives from Cruise responded to firefighters and “immediately disabled the car remotely.” Cruise said Monday night it was sharing the video with investigators. A witness at the scene told investigators that he saw the other car, which he described as green, cause the woman to fall over in the street and the robotaxi to strike her, according to video taken at the scene and posted live on social media by FiscoLive415. As investigators scoured the scene Monday night, the Cruise vehicle remained stopped on Fifth Street just south of Market with its headlights and hazard lights still on. Police were collecting eyewitness accounts and checking surveillance video. Police spokesperson Robert Rueca said pedestrian safety is a “big concern for police on our streets whether it involves cars with drivers or autonomous vehicles.” Robotaxis have been at the center of heated debate following several incidents in San Francisco that have sparked public outcry. In August, following two crashes on the same night involving Cruise driverless vehicles, the California Department of Motor Vehicles slashed Cruise’s operations in the city by half, pending an investigation into recent incidents. The company agreed it would not operate more than 50 driverless vehicles during the day and 150 driverless vehicles at night. In a letter last month, House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Kevin Mullin, D-San Mateo, urged the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to collect more data on autonomous vehicles, citing “serious” safety concerns about how they operate in “real-world situations.” The letter cited recent problems with Waymo and Cruise robotaxis in San Francisco. “As sophisticated as such software is becoming, AVs on the streets of San Francisco, which we both represent, have been having challenges in addressing complex real-world situations, such as navigating road work zones and reacting to the temporary outage of signals,” Pelosi and Mullin said in the letter. “When AVs malfunction, they frequently shut down in place, which has resulted in the vehicles obstructing public transit routes, blocking intersections and the normal flow of traffic, and preventing first responders from reaching people in need.” David Chiu, the San Francisco city attorney, filed a motion in August requesting that the California Public Utilities Commission suspend Cruise and Waymo's unrestricted commercial expansion into the city, pending a rehearing. “San Francisco will suffer serious harm if (Cruise and Waymo are) allowed expansion in the city with no limitations on geographic area, service hours and fleet size,” the motions read. “It is foreseeable that driverless AV operations will significantly expand in the near term.” Pelosi and Mullin believe the NHTSA should take more action that would help make safety conclusions about autonomous vehicles. “We believe the NHTSA should require (AV) companies to report incident information on a detailed and standardized basis so that the safety record of these vehicles is fully understood and so that companies may be evaluated relative to each other and held accountable,” the lawmakers said. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/woman-run-autonomous-vehicle-san-francisco-18403044.php
People would do anything to get painkillers at the ER…
Bummer but why is this news? 520 people are hit by cars in ca per day. Props for it being rarer with autonomous cars.
Are you sure it’s rarer when adjusted for miles driven and complexity of miles driven?
There’s also more to the “multiple vehicles involved in crash” - another car ran her over first. A human driver probably wouldn’t have run her over after she was already hit but you never know. “Video taken by the Cruise car -- and shared with The Chronicle by Cruise -- shows that the woman was struck first by another vehicle. The video shows both the Cruise car and the other vehicle stopped side by side at an intersection and when the light turns green both cars proceed into the intersection, where a woman is walking. The other car hits her and she tumbles and bounces off the side of the car then falls into the path of the Cruise car, which runs her over. Cruise said it was sharing the video with investigators. A witness at the scene also told investigators that he saw another car, a green vehicle, cause the woman to fall over in the street and the robotaxi to strike her, according to video taken at the scene and posted live on social media by FiscoLive415. Firefighters at the scene, however, did not mention the second car and were still pulling together information. It appears that once the Cruise car sensed something underneath its rear axle, it came to a halt and turned on its hazard lights, Schorr said. After the crash and after the victim was removed from underneath the Cruise car, the vehicle remained stopped on Fifth Street with its headlights and hazard lights on as investigators scoured the scene.”
Cruise taking the robotaxi industry down.
Yeah they really should have prioritized ballistic meatsack deflectors on the roadmap 🥵
Scary. Could it be because 9.30pm? Cameras were unable to detect women at night time
Do you have a subscription to read the article? OP didn’t include the most important part which is that another vehicle ran her over first. “Video taken by the Cruise car -- and shared with The Chronicle by Cruise -- shows that the woman was struck first by another vehicle. The video shows both the Cruise car and the other vehicle stopped side by side at an intersection and when the light turns green both cars proceed into the intersection, where a woman is walking. The other car hits her and she tumbles and bounces off the side of the car then falls into the path of the Cruise car, which runs her over. Cruise said it was sharing the video with investigators. A witness at the scene also told investigators that he saw another car, a green vehicle, cause the woman to fall over in the street and the robotaxi to strike her, according to video taken at the scene and posted live on social media by FiscoLive415. Firefighters at the scene, however, did not mention the second car and were still pulling together information. It appears that once the Cruise car sensed something underneath its rear axle, it came to a halt and turned on its hazard lights, Schorr said. After the crash and after the victim was removed from underneath the Cruise car, the vehicle remained stopped on Fifth Street with its headlights and hazard lights on as investigators scoured the scene.”
I don't trust software.
We don't trust your software either
copy/pasted the entire article now that the chronicle updated it
The title is misleading. The correct title: “Cruise AV records the scene of a hit-and-run incident and helps find the culprit”. Content: “A human driver hit and a woman who was crossing on red. Instead of stopping and helping her, the driver ran away. Fortunately there was a Cruise AV nearby, which recorded the scene and stopped immediately. The vehicle has recording of the other hit-and-run driver. AV help reduce hit-and-run incidents and find dangerous human drivers”.
AV also helps identify pedestrians running red lights and give them a lesson to learn. So people will be not cross the streets if they do not have the green lights, and hit-and-run cases will also re reduced. What a peaceful world improved by Cruise AV!
Yeah this title is super misleading. It’s doubtful a human driver could have avoided that after she was thrown in front of the car by the other car. That’s the real culprit
Safety is our #6 priority
You know damn well Cruise only has P0s 🤪
Why is this article focused on the cruise car? The other car was the issue and it’s very unlikely that if someone was driving the cruise car they could have avoided hitting her
I think even if a human driver cannot avoid hitting her in this scenario, he can at least avoid run over her. But robotaxi is not smart enough to handle this, so it hit her and then run over her
difficult to say without video, unsure how person fell into path, trajectory, body position… like saying you can’t avoid hitting a speed bump but won’t run over it, at speed… takes time to slow down
Video: https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1mnGepLeXPRKX
you gotta sign in? 🥵