How soon before driverless cars return to Houston's streets?

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Cruise self-driving cars were fully operating in Houston for about two weeks in October, but that stopped after questions about how safe the General Motors-owned company actually is.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles stopped the driverless vehicles from operating in the state after reports of them hitting pedestrians, stalling in roadways, and causing other incidents.

The company itself then voluntarily stopped it everywhere, including in Texas, so they could investigate their fleet.

Logan Winship is a Houstonian who said he recently had a bad experience with one of the driverless vehicles during a trip to Austin.

"I almost got hit by one, and I was just walking down the sidewalk," he said. "It didn't register me."

Dr. Kaushik Rajashekara, a distinguished professor of engineering at the University of Houston, said the newness of the technology has it under a microscope.

"Because it is a new technology, there are always some complaints," he said. "Even if a small problem happens, it becomes a big deal."

Rajashekara added the Cruise vehicles could resume full service soon with certain tweaks to how they see things while driving themselves, but said they will still be mandated to certain areas of town as was previously the case.

He added that driverless technology that freely shares the road with everyone should still be decades away.

ABC13 reached out to Cruise for information on this story, but they didn't respond to the request for comments.

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