GM’s Cruise recalls 300 self-driving vehicles after bus crash to update software

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -General Motors’ robotaxi unit Cruise LLC is recalling the automated driving software in 300 vehicles after a driverless vehicle crashed into a San Francisco bus on March 23.

The collision, which did not result in any injuries, was the fault of software in a Cruise automated vehicle (AV) inaccurately predicting the movement of an articulated San Francisco Municipal Transit Authority bus, Cruise said in a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) filing made public on Friday.

Cruise said the self-driving software in the 300 vehicles was updated on March 25 to address concerns the system “may inaccurately predict the movement of articulated vehicles such as buses and tractor trailers.”

In a separate filing with California, Cruise said the self-driving vehicle was traveling on Haight Street when a bus stopped ahead of it.

“Shortly thereafter, the Cruise AV made contact with the rear bumper of the MUNI Bus, damaging the front fascia and front fender of the Cruise AV,” Cruise said.

Cruise said the issue was the bus moved in a way where the rear section fully obstructed the front section of the bus and decelerated close to the AV within a few seconds of the front section becoming obstructed.

Cruise said after the update it has determined the crash would not be repeated.

Cruise in September said it had recalled and updated software in 80 self-driving vehicles after a June crash in San Francisco that left two people injured.

NHTSA said last year the software could “incorrectly predict” an oncoming vehicle’s path.

In December, NHTSA opened a formal safety probe into the Cruise autonomous driving system after it received reports of incidents in which self-driving Cruise vehicles “may engage in inappropriately hard braking or become immobilized.”

NHTSA has stepped up scrutiny of advanced driver assistance systems and autonomous vehicle systems. In 2021, it directed all automakers and tech companies to promptly report crashes involving self-driving vehicles.