HOUSTON — Have you been seeing more self-driving vehicles on Houston roads lately?
Well, that's because ride-hailing company Cruise is in the middle of testing its autonomous vehicle services.
On Tuesday, one of the vehicles stalled traffic for a few minutes on Montrose and Hawthorne. A resident caught video of the ordeal and said the light wasn't changing so Houston police arrived on scene and started directing traffic.
The resident told KHOU that an officer tapped on the window of the car, even though no one was inside.
It’s one of the first incidents with autonomous vehicles in Houston, according to a city leader.
Nobody was hurt, but the City of Houston said it's tracking these types of issues to make sure the technology is ready for the road.
“It did cause a little bit of traffic congestion, and that’s really the first incident we’ve had since these have been operating for a month at limited scale,” Jesse Bounds, director of the city’s Office of Innovation told KHOU.
Bounds said Cruise is the first autonomous ride-sharing company operating in Houston, and one of the largest in the country. The GM-manufactured vehicles have been testing on Houston streets for over a year.
Bounds said the city has started tracking 311 and 911 calls related to autonomous vehicles.
“We’re also tracking incidents where first responders or public works staff encounter a vehicle,” Bounds said.
So far, there haven’t been instances of vehicles disrupting emergency operations, like what happened in Austin earlier this week.
Cruise says in certain complex situations, the vehicle’s design errs on the side of being conservative and pulls over or comes to a complete stop.
In a statement, a Cruise spokesperson said the following:
"Our vehicles were stopped at an intersection where the lights were not cycling and showed all red. All vehicles were able to clear the intersection autonomously, most within about four minutes. Safety is embedded in everything we do and our vehicles are designed to adhere to traffic signals and follow rules of the road. Throughout the process of entering a new market, we work closely with state and local officials and first responders in any city we test or operate in, which includes obtaining any required permits."
The city says the vehicles are designed to contact Cruise support staff of an incident. The city has no regulatory oversight on Cruise but is encouraging people to call if there are any issues.
“We’re partnering with them to make sure they’re operating safely and that we’re able to address concerns from the community, and that our first responders know how to interact with them,” Bounds said.
Cruise didn’t say exactly when it would officially launch its ride-hailing service. The company has launched in other major cities including Austin, San Francisco, and Phoenix.