Cruise robotaxis blocked traffic for hours on this San Francisco street

More than a half dozen Cruise robotaxis stopped operating and sat in a street in San Francisco late Tuesday night, blocking traffic for a couple of hours.

Photos and a description of the Cruiserobotaxi blockade were shared to a post about things happening in the city.

The cars are stuck at the intersection of the two streets.

“We had an issue earlier this week that caused some of our vehicles to cluster together,” a Cruise spokesperson said. “While it was resolved and no passengers were impacted, we apologize to anyone who was inconvenienced.”The vehicles were recovered through a combination of remote assistance and manual retrieval.

Less than a week ago, Cruise launched its first fully automated, commercial taxi service. Without a human safety operator in the driver's seat, Cruise's vehicles operate on designated streets between 10 pm and 6 a.m. The post made it's way to social media.

Some @Cruise robotaxis appeared to be stuck in SF last night at the corner of Gough St. and Fulton St.

Human ops apparently had to rescue them. Still some kinks to iron out. pic.twitter.com/eXDocjVfHU

— Taylor Ogan (@TaylorOgan) June 30, 2022

I told my co-worker that they were getting together to kill us. It was very strange. The cars had to be taken away by humans. Cruise should be fined for blocking the road for so long. The street sweeper couldn't hit an entire block because of it.

There are fines for blocking the street sweeper. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority did not respond to requests for more information about how it handles such situations with self driving vehicles.

The issue raises questions about the policy cities need to put in place when they break the law, as well as Cruise's own operational protocol.

A Cruise car was pulled over by a police officer because of malfunctioning headlights. When the cop tried to open the driver-side door, the vehicle drove off and then pulled over a little way down the road, triggering its hazard. The cop went back to the vehicle. There was no citation given.