Autonomous vehicles are back under the microscope. This time the controversy centers on a Chevy Bolt EV from the driverless car company Cruise (belonging to General Motors). The car in question blocked the path of an ambulance that was attending to the victims of the shooting in the Mission district of San Francisco last Friday.
A video posted on Twitter showed that the autonomous car, which is part of the taxi service’s fleet, prevented emergency services from reaching the crime scene as quickly as possible.
“Blocking medical emergency and fire, I have to get him out of here now,” you can hear in the recording, which has gone viral on social networks.
The American company has had no choice but to comment on the incident: “Like all of us in San Francisco, we are saddened by this tragic event in our hometown. Our thoughts are with the victims and families and we wish them all a full recovery,” he tweeted.
Cruise acknowledges that his “car initially stalled as it approached an active emergency scene” and “then proceeded to make a U-turn and come to a stop.” “During this time, all vehicles, including emergency response vehicles, were able to move around our car,” he defends.
However, some users criticize the performance of the vehicle, even asking that it publish the onboard images: “A car that makes a U-turn blocks an entire road. And if the policeman was able to get out of his car and hit the window, it was not a momentary pause. At least acknowledge that this was wrong and the programming is fixed.”
Nine people were injured during the shooting that took place in San Francisco’s Mission district on the night of June 11, in what police described as apparently “targeted and isolated.”
The Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital said that one of the victims remained in critical condition, according to information collected by the Associated Press (AP) agency. The victims were eight men and one woman between the ages of 20 and 34.
