Cruise autonomous taxis blocked San Francisco traffic for hours

On Tuesday night, a small fleet of Cruise robotaxis in San Francisco came to a halt, causing traffic on a street in the Fillmore district to come to a standstill for several hours until employees could arrive. A Reddit post featuring a photograph of the stalled driverless cabs at Gough and Fulton streets was first noticed by TechCrunch. GM's Cruise unit, which is the maker of the self-driving car, only introduced its business taxi service in the city last week. The transportation is completely driverless and takes place on certain streets.

“We had an issue earlier this week that caused some of our vehicles to cluster together,” a Cruise spokesperson said in a statement to TechCrunch. “While it was resolved and no passengers were impacted, we apologize to anyone who was inconvenienced.”

Cruise, a GM-backed AV start-up that won the first driverless taxi permit in a major US city and began providing free rides to San Francisco residents in February, has started promoting for its paid passenger service. After putting its paid passenger service into operation on June 24, early assessments from Cruise passengers flooded in. One passenger stated that his Cruise automobile took an unusual detour to get to his house. Another passenger had a more favorable experience, even leaving a cash amount for the driverless vehicle.

This week's traffic jam, at least for its commercial service, appears to be Cruise's first major roadblock. Police stopped a Cruise car in April for failing to have its headlights on. After discovering that no one was behind the wheel, officers seemed flummoxed as to how to proceed. The State of California requires automobile-vehicle collision reporting by AV companies to the DMV, which makes the information available online. There have been 18 reports involving Cruise vehicles so far this year, according to state law.