How Diligent We Are: GM's Cruise Unit Recalls Software in Some Robotaxis

"General Motors Co.'s driverless-car unit has issued a recall related to the software in some of its robotaxis, after a crash this year resulted in minor injuries.

Cruise LLC, in a notice published Thursday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said the recall campaign covers 80 vehicles with older software that allows them to be operated without a driver at the wheel.

When those vehicles made an unprotected left turn, in some circumstances, that software might not have correctly predicted the direction of oncoming vehicles, the filing said.

The software being recalled was used in 80 company-owned cars operated by Cruise in a robotaxi service in San Francisco that weren't made available for sale, the company said. Cruise issued a public recall at NHTSA's suggestion, the filing said.

"We submitted this voluntary filing in the interest of transparency to the public; it pertains to a prior version of software and does not impact or change our current on-road operations," Cruise said.

After years of testing its self-driving-car technology, GM's Cruise in June launched a commercial robotaxi service in San Francisco.

The company is allowed to operate Cruise vehicles in the city's downtown at night without a safety driver present at speeds of as much as 30 miles an hour.

GM has said the deployment of a driverless-taxi service through Cruise will be a crucial growth driver in coming years. The company has said Cruise could reap $50 billion in revenue by the end of the decade, and Chief Executive Mary Barra told investors in July that GM will give priority to investments into self-driving cars and electric vehicles.

Regulators have been paying closer attention as of late to driverless cars being tested on public roads. NHTSA in June released data on crashes involving highly automated systems, such as those operated by Cruise and Alphabet Inc.'s Waymo LLC. Those vehicles are equipped with technology that fully automates driving in certain circumstances.

Cruise's recall follows a June 3 crash involving one of its driverless cars that was struck by an oncoming vehicle in a San Francisco intersection, according to the filing published this week.

As the driverless car began turning left, its software predicted that the other vehicle, which was traveling in the right-turn lane, would veer directly into the Cruise vehicle's path, the filing said. In response, the Cruise car decided to brake. The oncoming driver then moved out of the turn lane and proceeded into the intersection, colliding with the rear of the Cruise vehicle, the filing said. Local police said the other driver was mostly at fault for the collision.

After the incident, Cruise said it disabled unprotected left turns in its fleet until it updated the vehicles' software July 6. Before then, Cruise said only one such incident occurred in more than 123,500 driverless unprotected left turns made before the software update.

Cruise said the company's software update improved its ability to predict the actions of other drivers on the road. The company said the software is now better equipped to prevent this type of incident, and it has determined the software would have selected a different path to avoid the collision.

The action is the latest step taken by NHTSA to beef up its oversight of autonomous cars, and it shows how the regulator could address potential safety issues in driverless vehicles going forward. The recall campaign follows a recall earlier this year by Pony.ai, an autonomous-vehicle startup backed by Toyota Motor Corp., over a problem with its driverless software that could cause vehicles to suddenly shut down.

Cruise's commercial robo-taxi service has drawn the attention of regulators in California, as well. In July, the state's regulator responsible for issuing driverless-car permits said it was looking into concerns raised in an anonymous letter that Cruise was preparing to launch its driverless-car operation prematurely.

The letter detailed incidents where Cruise vehicles had stalled at intersections, blocking lanes of traffic, and said that employees had concerns internally about the readiness of the company's technology for commercial deployment. A spokeswoman for the regulator didn't respond to a request to comment Thursday on the matter.” [1]

 This clearly looks like an attempt by the largest US car company to promote its products. Look, we recall even when the accident is not our fault. Those who own Tesla shares should be concerned, maybe sell some.

 

1.  Business & Technology: GM's Cruise Unit Recalls Software in Some Robotaxis
Felton, Ryan. 
Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 02 Sep 2022: B.4.

Sintetiniai degalai Volkswagenui

  „BERLYNAS – naujasis „Volkswagen AG“ generalinis direktorius Oliveris Blume'as pirmąją darbo dieną pritarė ambicingai savo pirmtako elektromobilių strategijai, tačiau pareiškė, kad tradiciniai vidaus degimo varikliai taip pat gali turėti įtakos bendrovės pastangoms sumažinti šiltnamio efektą sukeliančių dujų kiekį.

 

    Ponas Blume'as teigė, kad nors jis palaikė VW elektromobilių pastangas ir, galbūt, net paspartins jas, VW, greičiausiai, dar daugelį metų gamins automobilius su mažai anglies dioksido į aplinką išskiriančiais vidaus degimo varikliais.

 

    „Sintetinis kuras turi pranašumą, kad jį galima gabenti, kaip įprastą kurą“, – ketvirtadienį paskelbtame interviu Vokietijos laikraščiui „Braunschweiger Zeitung“ sakė Blume. „Ir be to, galima pasinaudoti šiandienine infrastruktūra“, – sakė jis.

 

    Ponas Blume'as, kuris taip pat yra VW sportinių automobilių prekės ženklo „Porsche“ vadovas, ir jo kūrėjų komanda jau seniai naudojasi vadinamaisiais elektrodegalais – sintetiniais mažai anglies dioksido į aplinką išskiriančiais degalais, kurie gali būti naudojami šiandieninėse transporto priemonėse, siekiant išlaikyti įprastus variklius rinkoje ilgiau, tuo pačiu sumažinant jų anglies pėdsaką.

 

    Pono Blume'o parama, didinant elektroninių degalų vaidmenį bendroje VW strategijoje gali lemti kai kurių išteklių perkėlimą nuo elektrinių transporto priemonių prie įprastų transporto priemonių, sakė Ferdinandas Dudenhoferis, Duisburgo (Vokietija) automobilių tyrimų centro direktorius.

 

    „Dėl to gali nukentėti VW investicijos į akumuliatorinius elektromobilius“, – sakė J. Dudenhoferis.

 

    Atskirame pranešime „Porsche“ nurodė, kad pasamdys Sajjadą Khaną, gerbiamą technologijų vadovą, anksčiau dirbusį BMW ir „Mercedes-Benz“ vadovaujančiose pareigose, prisijungti prie jos valdybos ir prižiūrėti automobilių informacinių technologijų plėtrą. P. Blume'as, eidamas „Porsche“ generalinio direktoriaus pareigas, pasveikino J. Khaną, sakydamas, kad gerai turėti tokį „patikimą skaitmeninių technologijų ekspertą“.

 

    Ketvirtadienį Portugalijoje susirinkusioje kompanijoje kreipdamasis į VW aukščiausius vadovus, ponas Blume'as vis dėlto sakė, kad bendrovė turi sutelkti dėmesį į savo elektromobilių plano įgyvendinimą ir užtikrinti, kad ji pasiektų savo tikslus.

 

    „Dabar mes turime pristatyti“, – pagal ištraukas iš jo kalbos sakė ponas Blume'as vadovams, susirinkusiems iš viso pasaulio į kasmetinę konferenciją.

 

    54 metų vyras, 28 metų įmonės veteranas, užėmęs vadovaujančias pareigas keturiose pagrindinėse įmonės automobilių markėse, pagrindinių VW akcininkų buvo išrinktas naujuoju automobilių milžino bosu po to, kai liepą jie atleido Herbertą Diessą.

 

    P. Diessas, buvęs Bayerische Motoren Werke AG vadovas, prie VW prisijungė 2015 m., o 2018 m. tapo generaliniu direktoriumi. Jis pakeitė automobilių gamintojo viešąjį įvaizdį, suterštą dėl išmetamųjų teršalų apgaulės skandalo, ir nukreipė jį į varžovę, elektromobilių pradininkę, Tesla Inc.

 

    Nors analitikų gerai vertinamas, J. Diessas sunkiai įgyvendino savo tikslus, įskaitant planą centralizuoti visą VW programinės įrangos kūrimą ir įtraukti ją į namus.

 

    Jis taip pat ne kartą susipyko su galingais įmonės darbo atstovais, kai kuriais pagrindinių automobilių gamintojo prekių ženklų vadovais ir kai kuriais didžiausiais bendrovės akcininkais.

 

    Ponui Blume'ui pradėjus kreiptis į vadovus Lisabonoje, bendrovės direktoriai paskelbė patvirtinę jo planą sumažinti valdybos narių skaičių nuo 12 iki devynių, taip skatinant greitesnį sprendimų priėmimą.

 

    Vadovaujant ponui Diessui, pagrindiniai VW akcininkai valdyboje įkūrė naujas pareigas, analitikai vertino tai, kaip bandymą suvaldyti nepasitikėjimą kėlusį generalinį direktorių." [1]

1. Business & Technology: VW Chief Endorses EV Strategy --- Combustion engines still viewed as having role in efforts to curb greenhouse gases
Boston, William. 
Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 02 Sep 2022: B.4.

Synthetic fuels for Volkswagen

 "BERLIN -- Volkswagen AG's new CEO, Oliver Blume, endorsed his predecessor's ambitious electric-vehicle strategy on his first day in the job, but said traditional combustion engines could also play a role in the company's effort to reduce its vehicles' greenhouse-gas emissions.

Mr. Blume said that while he backed VW's EV push and might even accelerate it, VW would likely also produce vehicles with low-carbon combustion engines for many years to come.

"Synthetic fuels have the advantage that they can be transported like conventional fuels," Mr. Blume told Germany's Braunschweiger Zeitung newspaper in an interview published on Thursday. "And in addition, today's infrastructure can be used," he said.

Mr. Blume, who is also chief of VW's sports-car brand, Porsche, and his development team there have long embraced so-called electrofuels, a synthetic, low-carbon fuel that can be used in today's vehicles, as a way to keep internal conventional engines in the market longer while reducing their carbon footprint.

Mr. Blume's support for increasing the role of e-fuels within VW's overall strategy could result in shifting some resources away from electric vehicles to conventional vehicles, said Ferdinand Dudenhoffer, director of CAR-Center for Automotive Research in Duisburg, Germany.

"As a result, VW investment in battery electric vehicles could suffer," Mr. Dudenhoffer said.

In a separate announcement, Porsche said it would hire Sajjad Khan, a respected technology executive who previously worked in leading roles for BMW and Mercedes-Benz, to join its board and oversee automotive information technology development. Mr. Blume, in his role as Porsche CEO, welcomed Mr. Khan, saying it was good to have such a "proven digital expert on board."

Addressing VW top managers at a company gathering in Portugal on Thursday, Mr. Blume nonetheless said the company needed to sharpen its focus on implementing its EV road map and making sure it reached its goals.

"Now, we have to deliver," Mr. Blume told the executives gathered from around the world for the annual conference, according to excerpts from his speech.

The 54-year-old, a 28-year company veteran who has held leadership positions at four of the company's main car brands, was picked by VW's main shareholders as the car giant's new boss after they fired Herbert Diess in July.

Mr. Diess, a former Bayerische Motoren Werke AG executive, joined VW in 2015, becoming CEO in 2018. He transformed the car maker's public image tarnished by an emission-cheating scandal, and set it on a course to rival EV pioneer Tesla Inc.

While well-regarded by analysts, Mr. Diess struggled to deliver on his objectives, including a plan to centralize all software development for VW and bring it in-house.

He also repeatedly fell out with the company's powerful labor representatives, some managers at the car maker's main brands and some of the company's largest shareholders.

As Mr. Blume began addressing the executives in Lisbon, the company's directors announced that they had approved his plan to reduce the size of the management board from 12 to nine, in a move to encourage faster decision making.

Under Mr. Diess, VW's main shareholders had packed the management board with new positions in what analysts saw as an attempt to keep a mistrusted CEO in check." [1]

1. Business & Technology: VW Chief Endorses EV Strategy --- Combustion engines still viewed as having role in efforts to curb greenhouse gases
Boston, William. 
Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 02 Sep 2022: B.4.