Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

Cruise, a self-driving company owned by General Motors, recently confirmed that self-driving taxis need manual assistance every four to five miles.

On Sunday, Kyle Vogt, chief executive and founder of Cruise, responded to claims that the company's self-driving taxis are not fully self-driving and require frequent assistance from staff in remote operations centers.

There are reports that GM's Cruise relies on manual "autopilot" driving, and Vogt admits that Cruise does have a remote assistance team. "in complex urban environments, Cruise self-driving cars get remote assistance (RA) an average of 2 to 4 per cent of the time," he said. "this is low enough that further optimization does not bring huge cost-effectiveness, and human intervention is particularly useful in some cases."

Cruise spokesman Tiffany Testo confirmed that the company's chief executive's claims are accurate.

On October 2, a Cruise self-driving taxi was involved in an accident that injured pedestrians in San Francisco. Subsequently, the company took stringent measures to suspend all autopilot operations. The accident and Cruise disclosures also led California regulators to cancel the company's license to operate driverless cars in California, explicitly requiring drivers to be on the road.

The California Motor vehicle Administration (DMV) previously said that the decision was based on several factors and cited four regulations detailing the reasons for the provisional Cruise operation: "determining that the manufacturer's vehicle is unsafe for public activities" and "the manufacturer failed to truthfully describe the information related to the safety of vehicle self-driving technology."

As previously reported, DMV accused Cruise of not showing them the full video of the accident on October 2. In the process, a passer-by was hit by another driver-controlled vehicle on the route of a Cruise self-driving taxi.

Cruise said the company's self-driving taxi "detected the collision and braked actively before hitting a pedestrian", but then dragged the pedestrian forward about 20 feet (6 meters) in an attempt to pull over.

Cruise's competitor Waymo continues to operate self-driving taxis in San Francisco.

Last week, there were reports that discussed in depth the issues that may lead to security incidents within Cruise, as well as the impact on Cruise's brand reputation and business. There is a figure in the report that Cruise employees interfere with driving every two and a half to five miles.

Vogt explained that this data refers to the frequency of remote assistance sessions initiated by self-driving taxis.

"many of these problems are solved by self-driving cars before people even see them, because we often ask self-driving cars to initiate remote conversations before determining that they need human help," he wrote. Many sessions are quick confirmation requests, such as whether you can move on and solve the problem in a matter of seconds. Some take longer and involve manually guiding self-driving cars to deal with thorny situations. All in all, in self-driving mode, there are 2% to 4% of the time (remote assistance is required). "

A spokesman for Cruise replied in an email on Monday that Cruise self-driving cars trigger a "remote assistance" session about every four to five miles, rather than every two and a half miles.

"usually, self-driving cars initiate these functions before determining that they need help, such as when the intended route of a self-driving car is blocked or when it needs help in identifying objects," she wrote. "" In self-driving cars, only 2% to 4% of the time is in a state of remote assistance, which is rare. And remote assistance consultants only provide pathfinding information to self-driving cars, not remote control. "

When asked about the response time for remote assistance and how Cruise's remote assistance staff were trained, the spokesman said: "more than 98 per cent of questions were answered within three seconds."

"remote assistance consultants undergo background checks and driving record checks, and complete two weeks of comprehensive training before starting work, including classroom training, scene drills, on-site tracking and experience assessment," she added. Remote assistance consultants will also receive continuous training and supplementary training when new features are launched or updated. we also conduct regular reviews, reviews and observations to ensure excellent performance. "

As for the ratio of remote assistance consultants to self-driving cars, a spokesman for Cruise said, "during the operation of self-driving taxis, there is about one remote assistance consultant for every 15 to 20 self-driving cars."

Missy Cummings, a professor at George Mason University (George Mason University) and an expert in automation systems, was a security consultant for the U.S. Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA). She said that whether or not the public believes that Cruise cars are self-driving, it has become an "industry standard" for employees to stand by and monitor the operation of the equipment.

"I'm starting to worry," she said, "how we use manpower. In other areas, we have also encountered some problems, such as air traffic controllers who may fall asleep at work."

Cummings also said it was important to find out whether Cruise cars involved in accidents would seek remote assistance, especially in October when a self-driving car hit a pedestrian. "I want to know if anyone has been notified and what that person did in the remote operation center."

Cruise declined to say whether the Oct. 2 incident triggered remote assistance, whether a consultant decided to move the vehicle, or whether an employee at the company called 911.

A spokesman for Cruise said: "We have launched a third-party investigation into the October 2 accident and are working with NHTSA. We will wait for these findings before making further comments."

GM said last month that Cruise lost about $1.9 billion in the first nine months of this year, including a loss of $732 million in the third quarter alone.

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