California Autonomous Vehicle Collision Reports

[Daniel in SD]

Collision with pedestrian. Edge case? I wish they published video for these. Could be one of the haters on this forum?

A Cruise autonomous vehicle ("Cruise AV") operating in supervised autonomous mode was driving Westbound on Hayes Street between
Lyon Street and Baker Street when a pedestrian ran in front of the AV. The Cruise AV stopped for the pedestrian and, moments later, the
pedestrian began yelling and approaching the Cruise AV. The Cruise AV operator disengaged the Cruise AV from autonomous mode to
leave the scene. The Cruise AV operator drove the vehicle forward and maneuvered away from the pedestrian, but the pedestrian
continued to approach the Cruise AV and jumped onto the hood of the Cruise AV. The pedestrian fell in front of the Cruise AV and
remained there until later fleeing the scene. The injury status of the pedestrian is unknown and a police report was filed.

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/file/cruise_060222-pdf/

Autonomous Vehicle Collision Reports - California DMV

Manufacturers who are testing autonomous vehicles need to report any collision that resulted in property damage, bodily injury, or death within 10 days of the incident.

www.dmv.ca.gov

 

[diplomat33]

Collision with pedestrian. Edge case? I wish they published video for these. Could be one of the haters on this forum?

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/file/cruise_060222-pdf/

Autonomous Vehicle Collision Reports - California DMV

Manufacturers who are testing autonomous vehicles need to report any collision that resulted in property damage, bodily injury, or death within 10 days of the incident.

www.dmv.ca.gov

Not sure there is much we can do to prevent people who want to throw themselves in front of an AV, probably hoping they can sue the company to get rich.

 

[Kablooie]

It sounds like the car stopped before contacting the pedestrian. Then the guy jumped on the hood and fell to the ground pretending to be hit. Of course all the cameras would reveal the truth if this is what happened.

 

[Daniel in SD]

Not sure there is much we can do to prevent people who want to throw themselves in front of an AV, probably hoping they can sue the company to get rich.

What's crazy is the number of hit and runs in the collision reports. Of course it is San Francisco so maybe even if you're on half a dozen ultra HD cameras you still won't get in trouble.

 

[Daniel in SD]

Here's an interesting one. It sounds like a case where if the Cruise AV had behaved like a normal human and not stopped there wouldn't have been a collision. Really sounds like they're at least partially at fault in this one.

A Cruise autonomous vehicle ("Cruise AV") operating in driverless autonomous mode, was traveling eastbound on Geary Boulevard
toward the intersection with Spruce Street. As it approached the intersection, the Cruise AV entered the left hand turn lane, turned the left
turn signal on, and initiated a left turn on a green light onto Spruce Street. At the same time, a Toyota Prius traveling westbound in the
rightmost bus and turn lane of Geary Boulevard approached the intersection in the right turn lane. The Toyota Prius was traveling
approximately 40 mph in a 25 mph speed zone. The Cruise AV came to a stop before fully completing its turn onto Spruce Street due to the
oncoming Toyota Prius, and the Toyota Prius entered the intersection traveling straight from the turn lane instead of turning. Shortly
thereafter, the Toyota Prius made contact with the rear passenger side of the Cruise AV. The impact caused damage to the right rear door,
panel, and wheel of the Cruise AV. Police and Emergency Medical Services were called to the scene, and a police report was filed. The
Cruise AV was towed from the scene. Occupants of both vehicles received medical treatment for allegedly minor injuries.

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/file/cruise_060322-pdf/

There is no "bus and turn lane" in the most recent 2014 Google street view.

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.com

Though here's a spot on the street that's been updated recently that shows what the lane looks like. Looks like it's also for taxis...

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

goo.gl

 

[TresLA]

Sounds more Iike the pedestrian collided with the AV.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

Could be one of the haters on this forum?

You can tell this is a Very Serious Forum since no one thinks this is funny.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Here's an interesting one. It sounds like a case where if the Cruise AV had behaved like a normal human and not stopped there wouldn't have been a collision. Really sounds like they're at least partially at fault in this one.

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/file/cruise_060322-pdf/

There is no "bus and turn lane" in the most recent 2014 Google street view.

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.com

Though here's a spot on the street that's been updated recently that shows what the lane looks like. Looks like it's also for taxis...

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

goo.gl

The lane was changed as part of the Geary rapid project:
Geary Rapid Project

Basically it became a bus/taxi or right turn only lane.

Here's another view that shows the lane was painted red after the change.
Google Maps

Google Maps

I can tell you for a fact plenty of people still use that lane on Geary as a travel lane, especially if they have a turn coming up in a few blocks (instead of waiting for the last block to change into the lane to make the turn) or if there's lots of traffic in the other lanes. It's just something a local driver would likely expect (would not assume automatically the car would turn).

I can give a clear example just a bit up the route (when it changes to O'Farrell).
Notice this van on the right (which is clearly not a bus or taxi).
Google Maps
Look at the next block, where it clearly kept going in the same lane without making a right turn:
Google Maps

So just an example of something where technically the Cruise vehicle is not necessarily at fault, but something humans may be able to avoid because they would expect the Prius to possibly violate the lane.

 

[Dewg]

I can give a clear example just a bit up the route (when it changes to O'Farrell).
Notice this van on the right (which is clearly not a bus or taxi).
Google Maps
Look at the next block, where it clearly kept going in the same lane without making a right turn:
Google Maps

The only thing that seems odd is that the van has emergency lights on the top, and yellow/black warnings on the back, so it may be a city vehicle. Hard to tell with Google blurring out the details of the vehicle. But even so, busses and taxis can move through it, so Cruise would have to handle those situations.

 

[Daniel in SD]

I can tell you for a fact plenty of people still use that lane on Geary as a travel lane, especially if they have a turn coming up in a few blocks (instead of waiting for the last block to change into the lane to make the turn) or if there's lots of traffic in the other lanes. It's just something a local driver would likely expect (would not assume automatically the car would turn).

Yeah that's what I figured. It kind of sounds like there would have been a collision even if the Prius had turned right. Though it would have been very aggressive braking and a high speed right!
Cruise's report says the Cruise vehicle came to a complete stop in the intersection before impact which sounds dangerous to me.
I'm also very skeptical that they're making path predictions that depend on whether or not a vehicle is a taxi or not.

 

[stopcrazypp]

The only thing that seems odd is that the van has emergency lights on the top, and yellow/black warnings on the back, so it may be a city vehicle. Hard to tell with Google blurring out the details of the vehicle. But even so, busses and taxis can move through it, so Cruise would have to handle those situations.

Looks like it's a city animal control vehicle, so it may be able to legally travel there (emergency vehicles are allowed), but it was just something I found on a quick search. That said, a lot of city vehicles in SF are Priuses, so Cruise must be able to handle those too.

Here's another example with a Tesla (and other cars ahead looked to have done the same) that's clearly not a city vehicle:
Google Maps

It crossed over straight through in the next capture:
Google Maps

If you drive in SF locally, this is not something that is unusual, especially if there is more traffic (a lot of the captures on street view there isn't much traffic).

Yeah that's what I figured. It kind of sounds like there would have been a collision even if the Prius had turned right. Though it would have been very aggressive braking and a high speed right!
Cruise's report says the Cruise vehicle came to a complete stop in the intersection before impact which sounds dangerous to me.
I'm also very skeptical that they're making path predictions that depend on whether or not a vehicle is a taxi or not.

Yeah, I doubt Cruise is making decisions based on taxi or city vehicles. City vehicles are especially harder to tell because a lot of them are just white (plenty are Priuses no less) and the only difference is there is a small golden seal and some numbers on the door (which you can't really see head on, especially if there is traffic on other lanes).

 

[Daniel in SD]

Should we judge fault differently for autonomous vehicles? It seems like the assumption with human drivers is that they will try to avoid collisions even when they would not be legally at fault. The Cruise vehicle stopped in the middle of the intersection when it predicted the possibility of a collision. Do they do this so they can't be said to have "hit" another vehicle even if it results in more collisions? Seems suspect. I see why the NHTSA is investigating.

 

[Dewg]

What would a human driver have done? If you were turning left and saw a car in the right turn lane heading for the intersection, would you have completed the turn, or would you have slammed on the brakes when you noticed the Prius not slowing down and left yourself in the path?

 

[Daniel in SD]

What would a human driver have done? If you were turning left and saw a car in the right turn lane heading for the intersection, would you have completed the turn, or would you have slammed on the brakes when you noticed the Prius not slowing down and left yourself in the path?

I don't think I make turns based on the prediction that the other driver will slow down when they have green light regardless of what lane they're in. I certainly wouldn't come to a stop in the middle of an intersection with a car approaching at 40mph!
I'd really like to see the video of this event... It really sounds like the Cruise vehicle went into some panic mode and stopped.

 

[stopcrazypp]

What would a human driver have done? If you were turning left and saw a car in the right turn lane heading for the intersection, would you have completed the turn, or would you have slammed on the brakes when you noticed the Prius not slowing down and left yourself in the path?

If it were me, in an unprotected left, I wouldn't put the car in the path of the lane in the first place, until I am sure all the lanes are clear with no approaching vehicles coming at speed (again as above under the assumption there may be cars going straight regardless if it was bus/taxi/turn only lane).

If I was already squarely in the path (no way for approaching car to avoid), I would have completed the turn quickly instead of coming to a complete stop.

The report is a bit confusing about the relative positions of the vehicles and chain of events. Given the Prius hit the car on the rear passenger side, it sounds like the Cruise vehicle may have stopped right in the Prius's path. It also doesn't say if the Prius had its right turn signal on (which would have possibly clued it if it was making a right turn; not sure if Cruise uses turn signal detection). Things would be a lot more clear if there is an accident reconstruction diagram as in other investigations.

 

[Daniel in SD]

MEANWHILE...

https://www.reddit.com/r/SelfDrivingCars/comments/x747j5

This will definitely get reported to the DMV. Seems far more likely that the cyclist hit the Cruise vehicle because it behaved in some non-human way. Unfortunately we'll only get Cruise's side of the story. I'm sure it will say that it's all the cyclist's fault (which will probably be true).

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

Unfortunately we'll only get Cruise's side of the story. I'm sure it will say that it's all the cyclist's fault (which will probably be true).

We’ll see the full video if the cyclist attacked the poor Cruise, unprovoked.

 

[Daniel in SD]

We’ll see the full video if the cyclist attacked the poor Cruise, unprovoked.

Nah, that's happened before and Cruise didn't release videos. It seems like AV companies don't want any of that type of publicity.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

Nah, that's happened before and Cruise didn't release videos. It seems like AV companies don't want any of that type of publicity.

Hadn’t realized that. I guess that is a good point. Though I would imagine it depends on whether the cyclist actually makes an actual accusation (in prior incidents have people actually taken them to court?).

Maybe Cruise just settles in cases where they are falsely accused. No idea.

 

[Daniel in SD]

Hadn’t realized that. I guess that is a good point. Though I would imagine it depends on whether the cyclist actually makes an actual accusation (in prior incidents have people actually taken them to court?).

A motorcyclist sued Cruise and Cruise settled while still claiming that it was the motorcyclist's fault:

GM settles with motorcyclist struck by Cruise self-driving car

Cruise CEO has called San Francisco testing "challenging but necessary."

arstechnica.com

I'm not aware of any incident actually going to court.