Driverless cars stall in downtown Austin intersection, drawing safety concerns

Driverless cars drawing safety concerns

Multiple Cruise ride share vehicles stalled in the middle of an intersection downtown Friday night, drawing concerns about the driverless ride share car's level of safety.

AUSTIN, Texas - Two driverless vehicles stalled at Seventh and Red River Streets late last night, and it was caught on camera.

In a video taken late last night in downtown Austin, one self-driving Cruise car sits at a complete stop in the middle of an intersection, and another in a turning lane, as people in the area watch in confusion.

"That's a recipe for trouble," said Carissa Tate, a tourist visiting Austin.

Drivers were forced to navigate around the stalled vehicles, stopping the flow of traffic.

"I think that is a very heavy tourist area," Tate said. "You got a lot of people on the sidewalks, you have got people crossing the street, and I think when that vehicles stops if it doesn't know to give the person behind them enough heads up, you are going to have a lot of fender benders."

"They should work those bugs out," Pieter Hoekstra, who witnessed the stalled vehicles, said. "It's still early days of this technology, but I think it's going to be a new and full development."

Tesla to spend more than $700M on 5 expansion projects

The new space is expected to allow for the production of Tesla's new cyber-truck. The extra space could include the all-electric big rig, battery storage units and possibly even the robots Elon Musk is developing.

Cruise, the ride-share company that operates the vehicles, said stalling vehicles is a protocol to protect the safety of the vehicle and its passengers.

According to the ride-share company Cruise, whenever the technology isn’t extremely confident in how to proceed, the car errs on the side of caution instead of forging ahead, coming to a safe stop.

The company adds that dispatch is sent out to pick up the vehicle if it needs maintenance.

"We were here last night, and we saw a couple of them lined up over here," Hoekstra said. "It didn’t seem like it was causing any concerns with the traffic, so people were moving around them pretty well."

The driverless vehicles have been removed from the intersection, but many in the area are still second guessing using the ride-share service.

"They should first do this during the day, where people are a little more mindful of their surroundings," Tate said. "When you have individuals that are out partying, and they are having a good time, they are not paying attention."

The company says the vehicles are safe when compared to cars with drivers. In its first million driverless miles, Cruise says they have had fewer collisions than humans.