A Cruise autonomous vehicle was involved in a minor collision in San Francisco when a BMW sedan made an illegal left turn from the right lane. The Cruise vehicle braked but could not avoid the impact, which caused damage to its front right bumper. No injuries were reported, and the driver of the BMW fled the scene.
A BMW Sedan reportedly made an illegal left turn, causing a minor collision but no injuries with a Cruise autonomous vehicle (AV) operating in autonomous mode.
Risk classification
- Primary risk domain: 7 AI system safety, failures, & limitations
- Primary risk subdomain: 7.3 Lack of capability or robustness
The Cruise autonomous vehicle was unable to successfully execute defensive driving maneuvers to avoid a collision when confronted with an unexpected illegal turn by an adjacent vehicle.
Causal factors
- Entity: Human
- Intent: Unintentional
- Timing: Post-deployment
The collision was caused by the human driver of the BMW making an illegal left turn, which resulted in an unexpected accident with the deployed Cruise autonomous vehicle.
EU AI Act risk tier
High Risk: The AI system is used in road traffic and transport infrastructure, which has significant implications for public safety.
AI system and alleged parties
- AI system: Cruise autonomous vehicle (Cruise)
- AI purpose: Autonomous Driving
- Behaviour type: Autonomous
- Alleged developer: Cruise
- Alleged deployer: Cruise
- Alleged harmed parties: Cruise vehicle
Harm severity
Highest direct severity in any category: Negligible. Severity is scored from Negligible to Catastrophic in each harm category, for harm the reports describe as caused directly or indirectly by the AI system.
- Physical: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
- Infrastructure: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
- Property: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
- Financial: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
- Environmental: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
- Malicious content: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
- Differential treatment: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
- Civil rights: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
- Democracy: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
- Privacy: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
- Psychological: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
- Epistemic: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
- Child sexual exploitation and abuse: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
People affected
- Occurrences reported: 1
- People reportedly exposed: 1
Potential causes
Technology
- Insufficient Braking: The AV braked but could not fully prevent contact with the BMW.
- Collision Avoidance Limit: The AV system was unable to avoid the BMW's sudden illegal turn.
Data Inputs
- Missing Turn Signal Data: The BMW did not use a turn signal, depriving the AV of intent data.
Human Factors
- Prohibited Left Turn: The BMW driver made an illegal left turn from the right lane.
- Failure to Signal: The BMW driver did not signal before making the sudden turn.
- Fleeing the Scene: The BMW driver left the scene without exchanging information.
Regulatory Environment
- Nighttime Testing Mandate: Permit conditions restricted driverless operations to 10pm to 6am.
Information quality
- Classification confidence: High
- Reason for confidence: The reports provide a clear, consistent, and official account of the minor collision, including details from the DMV report. There is no conflicting information regarding the sequence of events.
- Ambiguities identified: None. The role of the Cruise AV and the BMW driver are clearly described.
- Alternative interpretations: None.
A Cruise autonomous vehicle was involved in a minor traffic collision in San Francisco after a human-driven BMW made an illegal turn. The incident resulted in minor bumper damage to the Cruise vehicle, no injuries, and carries negligible implications for national security.
- Overall national security impact: Negligible
- Response level: Minor
- Scope: Single nation
- Primary target: No clear primary
- Alleged perpetrator: Unknown
Threat characteristics
- Imminence: Long-term. Represents a localized traffic event with no immediate or developing national security threat.
- Autonomy: Full autonomy. The Cruise vehicle was operating in driverless autonomous mode, making real-time braking decisions without a human safety driver.
- Novelty: Established threat. Minor traffic collisions involving autonomous test vehicles on public roads are established events with existing precedents.
Impact by dimension
- Physical security: Negligible. Minor local traffic collision involving a single autonomous vehicle and a passenger car, resulting in no injuries or critical infrastructure damage.
- Information security: Negligible. No information warfare, espionage, or intelligence security implications are associated with this localized traffic incident.
- Sovereignty: Negligible. No impact on sovereign state authority, national borders, or core government functions.
- Economic security: Negligible. Minimal economic impact restricted to minor property damage to a single commercial vehicle, with no threat to strategic industries.
- Societal stability: Negligible. A routine local traffic accident with no implications for societal stability, civil liberties, or human rights.
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