Driverless 'Cruise' cars currently testing in Houston, seeing issues in other major cities

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- New complaints are emerging about the line of driverless cars that could hit Houston's streets soon.

General Motors' fleet of electric, self-driving cars under the "Cruise" subsidiary are billed as making travel services like ridesharing and product delivery safer and more accessible. They're currently operational in San Francisco, Phoenix, and Austin. But there are a growing number of instances being reported of the cars causing major problems in those major cities, leaving residents frustrated and city leaders pushing back.

In San Francisco, a Cruise car carrying multiple passengers was hit after it turned in front of a vehicle that did not stop at an intersection. The company recalled its vehicles after that incident in June to update software to make them more reactive to human error. The more frequent problem is the cars simply coming to a stop for hours. In August, a busy music festival caused a meltdown of Cruise cars where disabled vehicles caused a traffic nightmare. Cruise said that their connectivity was compromised in the high-traffic area.

There's also the problem of emergencies that the vehicles' technology can't account for. In 2023, the San Francisco Fire Department reported 55 instances of driverless vehicles interfering with fire response. City leaders in San Francisco and Austin say their hands are tied when it comes to regulating the driverless cars, with authorization controlled by the state.

Austin City Council's mobility committee plans on meeting this month to determine what to do about the mounting concerns of the vehicles stopping for hours on major roadways, exacerbating traffic congestion.

ABC13 reported in June that the company had begun testing vehicles in Houston. The cars have not yet been cleared to hit the streets. Cruise told ABC13 in a statement:

"Cruise's safety record is publicly reported and includes having driven nearly 700,000 fully autonomous miles in an extremely complex urban environment with zero life-threatening injuries or fatalities."

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