CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A new driverless rideshare, Cruise LLC, is testing its vehicles in Charlotte as part of the company's future plans in the city. But some people say there's still some work to be done before the company launches widely in the Queen City.
Cruise announced it would begin testing in Charlotte on Tuesday. It wasn't long before multiple issues were reported by drivers. Cruise already operates in San Francisco, Austin, Texas, and Phoenix.
One person witnessed a close call at a merge point on Independence Boulevard. Ben Copeland, a candidate for Charlotte City Council, said he saw one of the vehicles parked in the middle of a street not moving.
"I was driving home very late at night on Tuesday and I saw one of your vehicles parked in the middle of the street not moving," Copeland said in the post. "Have you consulted local leaders about your intentions?"
WCNC Charlotte chief meteorologist Brad Panovich saw one of these taxis at the intersection of Johnston Road and Pineville-Matthews Road.
The city of Charlotte issued a statement to WCNC Charlotte on Thursday confirming the Cruise tests would run through Saturday in multiple districts. The primary testing would take place in and around Uptown, and all vehicles would have a driver behind the wheel at all times.
"Cruise is testing vehicles in the Charlotte area on Aug 15-19. This test will primarily be conducted in Council District 1, and small portions of Districts 2, 3, and 6," the city's statement reads. "Cruise cars will have a driver behind the wheel at all times, and vehicles will not be operated autonomously at this time."
The city's statement also says that the tests were being used as an opportunity for Cruise to gather data about Charlotte's roads and driving behaviors before going driverless. Cruise contacted the city last week as a courtesy notice, but a spokesperson said Charlotte does not have to give them permission to test the vehicles, as their operations are regulated at the state level.
Similar problems were reported in Austin, Texas, where a self-driving taxi took wide turns and drove through bike lanes with no human inside to correct.
"One-time mistakes happen with driving but this seems to be something that the cars are systematically doing," bicyclist Robert Foster told WCNC Charlotte's news partner KVUE. "Them testing it on the roads when they're performing this way, it's frightening."
However, a Cruise spokesperson told WCNC Charlotte the autonomous cars have 4 million miles of driving experience and zero reported safety incidents. The vehicles have 40 censors on them and are driven by artificial intelligence.
"Those machines are designed to minimize risk," Kevin Lacey with NCDOT said. He added they're safer than human drivers because they have quicker reaction times and don't get distracted.
"We have impatient drivers, people who will cut folks off," Lacey said. "Once you have a high percentage of machine driving, you'll see less of that."
Cruise does not have a set timeline of when it expects to come online in the Queen City. After it wraps up this first phase of testing, it will start testing driverless rides with Cruise employees still inside the cars.
Contact Julia Kauffman at jkauffman@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Wake Up Charlotte To Go is a daily news and weather podcast you can listen to so you can start your day with the team at Wake Up Charlotte.
SUBSCRIBE: Apple Podcasts || Spotify || Stitcher || TuneIn || Google Podcasts
All of WCNC Charlotte's podcasts are free and available for both streaming and download. You can listen now on Android, iPhone, Amazon, and other internet-connected devices. Join us from North Carolina, South Carolina, or on the go anywhere.