Workers assist Cruise 'autonomous' robotaxis every 2.5-5 miles

Remote operators have to intervene every 2.5 to 5 miles driven by a Cruise robotaxi, calling into question whether they should be called 'autonomous'.

According to the New York Times, Cruise employs one and a half workers located in remote operations centres to support each vehicle, prompting AI expert Gary Marcus to question whether the revelation may prove Cruise to be the 'Theranos of AI'. 

'If Cruise’s vehicles really need an intervention every few miles, and 1.5 external operators for every vehicle, they don’t seem to even be remotely close to what they have been alleging to the public,' Marcus wrote. 'Shareholders will certainly sue, and if it’s bad as it looks, I doubt that GM will continue the project.'

In a post on Hacker News, then Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt responded by saying that Cruise robotaxis were remotely assisted '2-4 percent of the time on average, in complex urban environments', and that 'of those, many are resolved by the AV itself before the human even looks at things'.