Cruise, an autonomous taxi company, requires manual assistance every 4 to 5 miles traveled

On November 7th, General Motors' autonomous driving company Cruise recently confirmed that autonomous taxis require manual assistance every 4 to 5 miles traveled.Last Sunday, Kyle Vogt, CEO and founder of Cruise, responded to claims that the company's autonomous taxis are not fully autonomous and require frequent assistance from remote operation center staff

On November 7th, General Motors' autonomous driving company Cruise recently confirmed that autonomous taxis require manual assistance every 4 to 5 miles traveled.

Last Sunday, Kyle Vogt, CEO and founder of Cruise, responded to claims that the company's autonomous taxis are not fully autonomous and require frequent assistance from remote operation center staff.

There are reports that General Motors' Cruise relies on manual "automatic" driving, and Vogt acknowledges that Cruise does have a remote assistance team. He said, "In a complex urban environment, Cruise autonomous vehicle spend an average of 2% to 4% of their time getting Remote Assistance (RA). This is low enough, further optimization will not bring huge cost-effectiveness, and in some cases, manual intervention is particularly useful."

Cruise spokesperson Tiffany Testo confirmed that the CEO's statements are accurate.

On October 2nd, a Cruise autonomous taxi accident occurred in San Francisco, causing pedestrian injuries. Subsequently, the company took strict measures to suspend all autonomous driving services. This car accident and the relevant information disclosed by Cruise also led to California regulatory authorities revoking the company's license to operate autonomous vehicles in California, explicitly requiring drivers on board to drive on the road.

The California Motor Vehicle Administration (DMV) previously stated that this decision was based on several factors and cited four regulations to elaborate on the reasons for the temporary operation of Cruise: "determining that the manufacturer's vehicle is unsafe for public activities," and "the manufacturer did not truthfully state information related to the safety of autonomous driving technology for vehicles.

As previously reported, DMV accused Cruise of not showing them the complete video of the October 2 accident. During this process, a pedestrian was hit by another vehicle controlled by the driver and hit the route of the Cruise autonomous taxi.

Cruise stated that the company's autonomous taxi "detected a collision event and proactively braked before hitting a pedestrian," but later dragged the pedestrian forward about 20 feet (6 meters) while attempting to pull over.

Cruise's competitor, Waymo, continues to operate autonomous taxis in San Francisco.

Last week, there was a report that delved into the issues that may lead to security incidents within Cruise, as well as the impact on Cruise's brand reputation and business. There is a data in the relevant report that Cruise employees intervene in car driving every 2.5 to 5 miles.

Vogt explained that this data refers to the frequency of remote assistance sessions initiated by autonomous taxis.

He wrote: "Many of these problems were solved by autonomous vehicle themselves even before people saw them, because we often let autonomous vehicle initiate remote sessions before they decided they needed human help. Many sessions are quick confirmation requests, such as whether they can continue to move forward, and the problem can be solved in a few seconds. Some take longer and involve manually guiding autonomous vehicle to deal with difficult situations. In general In other words, in autonomous mode, there is 2% to 4% of the time (requiring remote assistance)

On Monday, a Cruise spokesman replied in an email that the Cruise autonomous vehicle triggers a "remote assistance" session about every 4-5 miles, rather than every 2.5 miles.

She wrote: "Normally, autonomous vehicle will actively activate these functions before they determine that they need help, such as when the autonomous vehicle's scheduled route is blocked, or when they need help to identify objects." "It is rare that only 2% to 4% of the time autonomous vehicle are in the state of remote assistance when they are driving. Moreover, remote assistance consultants only provide road finding information to autonomous vehicle, rather than remote control."

When asked about the response time of remote assistance and how Cruise's personnel responsible for remote assistance received training, the spokesperson said, "Over 98% of the questions received a response within 3 seconds

She also added, "Remote assistance consultants need to undergo background checks and driving record surveys, and complete two weeks of comprehensive training before starting work, including classroom training, scenario drills, on-site tracking, and experience assessment. Remote assistance consultants will also continue to receive training and receive supplementary training when new features are launched or updated. We will also conduct regular reviews, reviews, and observations to ensure excellent performance

As for the ratio of remote assistance consultants to autonomous vehicle, a Cruise spokesman said, "During the operation of autonomous taxis, there is about one remote assistance consultant for every 15 to 20 driverless vehicles."

Missy Cummings, a professor at George Mason University and expert in automation systems, was a safety consultant for the US Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA). She stated that regardless of whether the public considers Cruise cars to be autonomous or not, employees are always on standby and monitoring the operation of equipment has become an "industry standard".

I'm starting to worry, "she said." How do we utilize manpower? In other fields, we've also encountered some problems, such as air traffic controllers falling asleep while working

Cummings also said that it was very important to find out whether Cruise cars involved in accidents would seek remote assistance, especially in the autonomous vehicle accident that hit pedestrians in October this year. I want to know if anyone has received notification and what that person has done in the remote operations center

Cruise declined to disclose whether the October 2 incident triggered remote assistance, whether any consultants decided to move the vehicle, or whether any company employees called the 911 alarm number.

A spokesperson for Cruise said, "We have initiated a third-party investigation into the October 2 accident and are working with NHTSA. We will wait for the results of these investigations before making further comments

Last month, General Motors stated that Cruise suffered a loss of approximately $1.9 billion in the first nine months of this year, with a loss of $732 million in the third quarter alone. (Chen Chen)