SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) – Professional drivers in San Francisco, public safety officials, Teamsters, and labor leaders plan to rally outside of the Cruise headquarters on Tuesday. The rally’s objective is to highlight safety issues and demand regulations.
These groups plan to rally as the third-quarter earnings from Cruise’s parent company, General Motors, are released today.
The group says Cruise robotaxis have stood in the way of San Francisco fire trucks and allege that the driverless taxis were involved in the death of a pedestrian after blocking an ambulance that was transporting a patient to the hospital. There have been multiple accidents and traffic jams because of the driverless taxis, according to the group.
However, in August, state regulators approved an expansion to allow Cruise and its competitor Waymo to operate these driverless taxis throughout San Francisco at all hours.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened a safety probe and is now investigating two instances where victims sustained injuries that required hospital care because of the driverless taxis, the group says.
The group goes on to say that despite these safety issues, the company and its CEO have said humans are terrible drivers and have advocated for banning human drivers in cities.
KRON4 has reached out to Cruise and has not heard a response.
