Cruise robotaxis require human intervention every four to five miles, the company has confirmed

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

Cruise has confirmed that its unmanned vehicles need remote operator assistance about every four to five miles.

Here's What We Know

The New York Times reported over the weekend that Cruise's cars are supported by a "huge operations staff". According to the publication, before the suspension, employees often had to remotely operate the cars after signalling problems.

The article did not disclose details about the remote driving. After the story was released, Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt confirmed some of the reporters' claims and revealed additional details.

He noted that cars use remote assistance an average of 2-4% of the time in urban environments. That's low considering the benefit of human involvement in certain situations, Vogt said.

The company later clarified what is meant by "2-4%". According to Cruise spokeswoman Tiffany Testo, remote assistance is provided about every 4-5 miles.

She explained that often the robot car requests a session in advance, such as when it detects an obstacle or needs to identify an object. Assistance is used 2-4 per cent of the time, which is the minimum. In this case, the advisor provides route data rather than remotely controlling the car.

Testo added that there is one assistant per 15-20 unmanned cars. They are vetted and trained before they work, and they receive regular additional training.

Go Deeper:

• Waymo and Cruise have been approved for 24-hour paid robotaxi rides in San Francisco
• In San Francisco, a car hit a pedestrian and threw him under the wheels of the Cruise robot car
• California bans Cruise drone testing after crashes and allegations of data hiding
• Cruise suspends robotaxi operations in the US after losing its licence in California

Source: Gizmodo