Cruise

Cruise will always be known as the robotaxi company to burn $15B to completely piss off both every resident of San Francisco and all of the government regulators…

Cruise, News, Waymo

Curbed – A Postcard From Driverless San Francisco

News Republisher
11/29/23
Rev 03/6/24

Article from Curbed. Interesting because describes what taking a robotaxi is really like, and how it turns out to not be that useful, especially given how slow they can be.

Cruise, Lobbying, News, Waymo

SF Standard – Cruise Hired a Lobbyist Close to Newsom. Then a Crash Changed Everything

News Republisher
11/21/23
Rev 01/2/24

Article from the SF Standard by Josh Koehn. Covers how not only did Cruise and Waymo report spending $2.3m to lobby state and local politicians to allow them to use our roads as a testing ground, but Cruise did not report hiring Axiom Advisors, close partners with Governor Newsom, until after key CPUC hearing.

Cruise, Safety, Untruths

Self-driving cars still aren’t the future

Paris Marx
11/8/23
Rev 01/3/24

Self-driving cars are a fantasy because they are based on flawed technologies. We can and need to do better. The article is from Paris Marxs’ blog at disconnect.blog, where you can also find many other articles on the perils of technologies like robotaxis, and the technologists who foist them on our society.

Crash, Cruise, News

Forbes – Cruise Robotaxi Dragged Woman 20 Feet In Recent Accident, Local Politician Says

News Republisher
10/6/23
Rev 01/25/24

Seminal article from Forbes by Cyrus Farivar that broke the story on how pedestrian was hit and dragged for 20’ by Cruise vehicle. This article completely changed the narrative of the incident. Note: Robotaxi Insider, a frequent contributor to the site, provided the source material to the reporter to break this important story.

Cruise, News, Safety, Untruths

Automotive News – Cruise robotaxi was second vehicle to strike San Francisco pedestrian, video shows

News Republisher
10/4/23
Rev 01/15/24

See full original article by Pete Bigelow at Automotive News. Editors note: this is a key article because the reporter viewed video from the Cruise vehicle and explains how the pedestrian was not suddenly “hurled” or “flung” into the path of the Cruise. Instead, the pedestrian was not severely impacted…

Cruise, Lobbying, News, Waymo

The Lever – The Lobbying Surge Behind San Francisco’s Robo-Taxi Mayhem

News Republisher
08/30/23
Rev 01/9/24

Driverless taxi companies Cruise and Waymo wined and dined officials and landed a plum regulatory appointment before they scored free rein on San Francisco’s streets. See full original article on The Lever by Freddy Brewster. In the lead-up to California regulators voting earlier this month to allow driverless taxis to…

Cruise, Lobbying, News, Waymo

SF Standard – Here’s How Much Robotaxi Companies Spent to Influence California Regulators

News Republisher
08/23/23
Rev 01/2/24

Article from SF Standard by Josh Koehn. Goes in depth about the lobbyists who are used to sway the regulators and the politicians. $2.3 million!

Crash, Cruise, Safety, Untruths

High-speed crash due to red-light runner AND Cruise stopping inappropriately

Michael Smith
08/18/23
Rev 02/28/24

Crash Analysis: 8/18/23 Cruise vehicle crashed with other vehicle at 26th St & Mission St in San Francisco. When a Cruise vehicle detects a problem it stops for “safety”. But this crash shows that doing so can actually be incredibly dangerous and result in serious damage. Cruise never acknowledged the dangerous behavior and apparently never addressed it.

Crash, Cruise, Safety, Untruths

Cruise collides with firetruck on an emergency call

Michael Smith
08/17/23
Rev 01/22/24

Crash analysis: 8/17/23 Cruise vehicle crashed with a firetruck on an emergency call. Cruise seriously misrepresented what went went wrong and appeared to never address the root problem of their vehicles not stopping for emergency responders.

Cruise, Lobbying, News, Waymo

San Francisco seeks reprieve from CPUC decision allowing unfettered autonomous vehicle expansion

News Republisher
08/17/23
Rev 01/25/24

San Francisco officials, led by City Attorney David Chiu, have filed a motion to halt the CPUC's decision allowing unchecked expansion of commercial autonomous vehicles (AVs) by Cruise and Waymo. Citing public safety concerns and numerous incidents where AVs interfered with emergency services, the city is seeking a stay while challenging the decision's lack of consideration for safety and environmental impacts in compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act.

Cruise, Disability, Lobbying, News, Waymo

SF Chronicle – Robotaxis are good for disabled people, advocates say. But are wheelchair users being thrown under the (autonomous) bus?

News Republisher
08/13/23
Rev 01/2/24

Article from SF Chronicle by Soleil Ho. Covers how Cruise and Waymo actively lobbied and funded disability organizations to get support for robotaxis. But it appears this was just a cynical ploy.

Cruise, News, Safety

NBC Bay Area Video – Are driverless cars ready to hit the road full time?

News Republisher
08/8/23
Rev 01/2/24

Bigad Shaban from NBC Bay Area investigates whether driverless cars are ready, just before the big CPUC vote on them on Aug 10th. The first ride went just fine. So for the second ride he brought along a long-time driving instructor to judge the abilities of the robotaxi. In the…

Cruise, Lobbying, News

SFGATE – Ex-SF Mayor Willie Brown blasts SF attacks on Cruise, Waymo, is on Cruise payroll

News Republisher
08/7/23
Rev 01/2/24

Article from SFGATE by Joshua Bote. Important because it confirms that former Mayor Willie Brown spoke out in favor of cruise because he has been a paid lobbyist for Cruise, since 2020!

Crash, Cruise, Safety, Untruths

Cruise encounters a turning semi-truck

Michael Smith
08/7/23
Rev 01/22/24

Crash analysis: 8/7/23 Cruise crashed with a semi-truck on Stanyan St in San Francisco. Definitely not safe to try to overtake a truck that is clearly turning in front of you. Once again, the Cruise robotaxi stopped exactly in the wrong place and was damaged because of lack of defensive driving abilities.

Cones, Cruise, Untruths, Waymo

Stopping robotaxis with traffic cones

Paris Marx
07/12/23
Rev 04/25/24

An interview with Safe Street Rebel about halting the expansion of Waymo and Cruise in San Francisco. This article is from Paris Marxs’ blog at https://disconnect.blog, where you can also find many other articles on the perils of technologies like robotaxis, and the technologists who foist them on our society.