Montrose residents on driverless taxis tying up traffic: 'Something out of a cartoon'

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The autonomous car company Cruise is now testing a fleet of driverless taxis in a Montrose neighborhood without human operators. Previously, the cars were operated with a safety driver.

The Houston Police Department said there have been several calls for service regarding these self-driving cars. The most recent call happened early Tuesday evening.

City officials said traffic lights were malfunctioning at an intersection in Montrose. All of the lights were red. This caused several of the cars to come to a complete stop for several minutes, tying up traffic.

Other major cities where these cars are being tested have reported major traffic jams.

"It does make sense that the Cruise vehicles stopped because it wasn't flashing red. It was red, but once police were there and waving traffic, you'd kind of hope they'd move," Montrose resident Simon Newton said.

Newton recorded a video of the car stuck at the stop light. He said officers weren't sure how to get the car to move.

"It was almost a bit humorous. These guys trying to get people around these metal big boxes sitting in the middle of the street," Montrose resident Alexander Spike said.

Spike and Newton said they think the cars should still be tested with a driver inside until these issues are resolved.

"These things need to understand that there's surprises on the road," Newton said.

A spokesperson for Cruise said the cars reacted in a way that was appropriate, by following the traffic laws.

"The overwhelming majority of the time, our cars can proceed autonomously even though some may do so after a brief delay," they told ABC13.

Spike and Newton were worried about what might happen in an emergency situation. Eyewitness News asked HPD if there was a protocol for how to deal with these cars and learned there isn't, according to a department official. However, the HPD official said that officers will enforce the law.

Newton said these protocols should have been worked out before the cars hit the road.

The Cruise spokesperson and city of Houston officials said they are working to develop these protocols. The city noted that they have no regulatory authority over autonomous vehicle operators due to S.B. 2205, a state law governing these autonomous vehicles that was passed in 2017.

"Right now, if they're not handling people and some norms of the road properly, maybe it's a little too early for autonomous at the moment," Newton said.

For news updates, follow Jiovanni Lieggi on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.