Kyle Vogt is “embarrassed for our species,” but proud of his company’s self-driving technology after a recent incident that was caught on camera in San Francisco.
Vogt, CEO of the General Motors-owned Cruise autonomous car company, posted a video to Twitter showing a man running in front of one of the company’s ride-hailing cars as it was in motion.
The clip shows the view out of the front window and also a digital rendering of what the car is “seeing” and its intended path through the street.
After passing through the intersection of Haight and Ashbury (coincidentally near a store with a sign that looks like it says AV, as in “Autonomous Vehicle,” but is actually a stylized AN for “Aviator Nation”), a man wearing a hoodie breaks away from a group of people on the sidewalk and quickly steps into the road.
The video display of the vehicle’s operating system shows that it had already identified the people and watched him approach as it began to adjust its path to avoid him, but ultimately came to a complete stop.
The man then looks at the car and strolls back toward the sidewalk.
“This kind of thing makes me feel embarrassed for our species. Credit for avoiding injury goes to this @Cruise AV named Cobbler,” Vogt Tweeted, making reference to the nickname each vehicle is given.
Cruise did not immediately respond to a request for more information on the incident from Fox News Digital, including whether any passengers were onboard the vehicle.
Earlier this month, Vogt confirmed that there are now 100 Cruise vehicles operating in the city.
Most trips take place in the late and overnight hours when vehicle and pedestrian traffic is light, but it began testing with passengers during the day in November.
The company has reported 29 accidents so far this year, most of which have been minor, with the other vehicle often at fault.
One major and injurious accident involving a Cruise that was hit by a speeding car while making a left turn led to an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and an update of the Cruise software designed to better address similar scenarios.
There have also been several reports of one or more Cruise vehicles becoming disabled in traffic due to networking issues, which are sometimes remedied by human techs who have to visit the vehicles in the field.
Along with its primary fleet of converted Chevrolet Bolt EVs, Cruise has started testing the purpose-built Origin, which is a shuttle-type vehicle with sliding doors and two rows of seats facing each other and no accommodations for a driver. It recently announced an expansion of ts service beyond San Francisco to Phoenix, Arizona, and Austin, Texas.