(Image: Cruise)

More companies have begun testing self-driving car fleets in Seattle including on the streets of Capitol Hill. CHS readers and eyewitnesses around the neighborhood’s core streets have reported seeing the autonomous Cruise vehicles — with a human driver on board ready to take control under current City of Seattle testing requirements.

“We’ve got a playbook running now,” Kyle Vogt, president of the General Motors-backed company said. “Scout a city, augment our datasets, retrain, validate, and go. Once we’re up and running, the data keeps streaming in.”

(Image: Cruise)

Seattle-based tech site Geekwire reports that Cruise’s on-the-pavement data collection and testing efforts began Monday. “In a bid to learn from Seattle’s hilly environment and often inclement weather conditions, Cruise is launching a small, piloted fleet of vehicles to collect data throughout the city, including parts of downtown, Capitol Hill, Queen Anne, Fremont, the University District, and West Seattle,” Geekwire reports.

The cars have already been spotted here. Expect to see more. Two other companies including Amazon’s Zoox cars have also received permits from the Seattle Department of Transportation under its Autonomous Vehicle Testing Permit program launched late last year. The permits require human drivers to monitor and control the vehicles if needed.

The expansion in testing robotaxi fleets in cities including Seattle comes amid increased safety concerns about the current state of autonomous vehicle technology.

In San Francisco, things have not gone well as companies including Cruise expanded their driverless taxi fleets to operate around the clock in the city earlier this month. “In the week that followed, Cruise vehicles were involved in a series of incidents, including 10 robotaxis stalling and causing gridlock, a vehicle that drove into wet cement, and a crash with a fire truck that left a passenger injured,” TechCrunch reports.

Regulators have ordered Cruise to cut its SF fleet in half as the incidents are investigated.

(Image: Cruise)

In its Seattle testing, Cruise is putting its software to the test along with hardware like sensors. It is also collecting piles of data about the city’s streets and neighborhood challenges like the slopes and busy pedestrian environments around Capitol Hill.

The car fleets also bring another danger — misplaced trust and complacency. For some, the hopes of electric vehicles and autonomous fleets can overshadow needed investments in public transportation and street safety.

Any decisions on allowing fully driverless vehicles in Seattle will be a state decision. For now, Seattle is keeping companies like Cruise in the slow test lane. Under the testing program, permit-holders must inform the city of their test plans, prominently display identifying logos on test vehicles, insure the fleet, and share data collected under the tests with the city including collisions.

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