Driverless taxis delay ambulance conveying injured patient; victim dies

Two driverless taxis delayed an ambulance carrying a critically injured patient who later died at a hospital, say the authorities in San Francisco.

Tosin Ajuwon • September 4, 2023

Driverless taxi [Credit; CNN]

Two driverless taxis delayed an ambulance carrying a critically injured patient who later died at a hospital, say the authorities in San Francisco.

The San Francisco fire department confirmed the incident, saying the two Cruise autonomous vehicles were stopped on the right two lanes of a four-lane, one-way street in the SoMa neighbourhood, where the victim was found.

It revealed that a police vehicle on another lane had to be moved for the ambulance to leave, adding that the driverless vehicles delayed transport and medical care.

According to the report, the patient, struck by a car, was pronounced dead about 20 to 30 minutes after arriving at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, about 2.4 miles from the crash.

Cruise, an autonomous vehicle subsidiary of General Motors, claimed it was not at fault.

The company shared footage showing that one of its vehicles had moved from the scene before the victim was loaded into the ambulance, while the other stopped in the right lane until after the ambulance left.

“As soon as the victim was loaded into the ambulance, the ambulance left the scene immediately and was never impeded by the Cruise vehicle,” the company said in a statement.

Jeanine Nicholson, the fire department chief, said “seconds matter” in such incidents, stressing that the problem was that responders could not access the patient.

“I have yet to see Cruise taking responsibility for anything,” Ms Nicholson said.

The fire department said the case was one of more than 70 autonomous vehicles interfering with emergency responders.

Since January this year, San Francisco officials have protested the expansion of driverless taxi services, pointing to cases where driverless cars blocked emergency vehicles and interfered during active firefighting and crime scenes.

While expressing concern, the president of San Francisco’s board of supervisors, Aaron Peskin, said regardless of what led to the victim’s death, the cumulative total of incidents involving driverless cars was more alarming.

“All of them have a common theme, which is autonomous vehicles are not ready for prime time,” Mr Peskin said.

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