A self-driving car ran over a pedestrian who had just been hit by another car driven by a human, Monday evening in San Francisco, according to authorities and the self-driving car company involved in the incident, Cruise.
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The victim is taken to the hospital in critical condition, according to firefighters.
“At approximately 9:30 p.m. on October 2, a human-driven vehicle, which was located directly to the left of Cruise’s self-driving car, struck a person. The initial impact was violent and threw that person directly in front of the self-driving car,” said Hannah Lindow, a spokeswoman for Cruise. , which then braked hard.
She showed Agence France-Presse a video of the incident, which confirms her story. We see the two cars driving at the green light and a person crossing the white lines in the middle of traffic before the collision.
Cruz’s car, which had neither a driver nor a passenger, then braked and stopped on top of the pedestrians.
Hannah Lindo added, “The driver of the other car fled, and at the request of the police, the self-driving car was impounded in its location,” explaining that she is working with the police “to help determine the identity of the driver responsible.”
Firefighters said they used tools to lift the vehicle and reach the victim, who suffered “multiple serious injuries.”
Self-driving electric taxis from Waymo (Google) and Cruise (General Motors) equipped with cameras and LIDAR (laser detection) devices have been deployed in San Francisco since last year, sparking increasingly heated debates.
Many residents appreciate the gradual launch of these cars, which they consider safer than those driven by humans.
Others believe they are not up to date and pose risks.
Even environmentalists, seen as perpetuating the dominance of the individual car, have taken action, placing orange cones on the hoods of their cars to immobilize them.
So far, most recorded accidents have involved self-driving vehicles parked on the road, blocking traffic.
In August, the California Transportation Agency granted the two companies permission to expand their paid services in the city.
But soon after, highway authorities asked Cruise to cut its San Francisco fleet in half (50 active cars during the day and 150 at night) while they investigated two crashes, including one with a fire truck.
