Following a collision with a bus, Cruise – General Motors’ autonomous vehicle business – has issued a voluntary recall to upgrade its driverless cars.
On March 23, 2023, an accident occurred in San Francisco between a Cruise automated vehicle and an articulated San Francisco Municipal Transit Authority bus. The records state that no one was injured during the incident and that the software glitch occurs only in “certain rare circumstances.”
Under NHTSA Campaign Number 23E029000, Cruise claimed that the ADS software could forecast the movement of articulated vehicles (buses, tractors, or trailers) incorrectly in three scenarios. One is when “the ADS perceived both the front section and rear section of an articulated vehicle initially,” while the other is when “the articulated vehicle then maneuvered in such a manner that the rear section of the vehicle fully obstructed the front section of the vehicle.”
The last situation is when “the articulated vehicle then decelerated close to the AV within a few seconds of the front section becoming obstructed. In such a circumstance, the ADS could inaccurately determine that the obstructed front section of the vehicle was continuing to move forward and that the rear section of the vehicle would continue to move forward with the front section, even if the vehicle was decelerating.”
The problematic feature of the Subject ADS Software, according to Cruise, was introduced with a software release on January 12, 2023. On March 25, a software update was released on all affected vehicles which should prevent this from happening again.
While there have been no other incidents as a result of this software fault, Cruise has decided to submit the voluntary recall report for openness and as a precautionary measure. This recall affects a total of 300 Cruise autonomous car units.