Imagine my surprise when I ventured to the third floor parking lot of San Francisco's Costco and discovered that almost every space was filled with a Cruise autonomous vehicle. I've seen a few of these "self driving" cars around town (always with a driver aboard). But apparently this was where they hole up when off the road.
Cruise -- majority owned by General Motors -- has enjoyed limited permission to offer cab rides in its vehicles between 10pm and 6am. The city is not entirely happy with the result. There have been complaints of hard braking that endangered following autos and occasionally a pack of these cars just bunch up irrationally and block traffic.
Perhaps to overcome human anxieties triggered by these robot vehicles, the Cruise company gives each car a cutesy name.
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Meet Mocha, Banana Slug, and Beet.
Nearby I noticed a Cruise in the wild ...
There goes Tootsie.
It's not clear yet whether they'll get beyond the testing phase. Probably. At that point, I imagine they'll drop the cutesy monikers.
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