Self-driving shuttle bus crashes with semi 2 hours after launch

A driverless shuttle bus rolls down a street in Las Vegas, Nov. 8, 2017 | AP photo by Regina Garcia Cano, St. George News

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A driverless shuttle bus has crashed less than two hours after it was launched in Las Vegas.

Police say no injuries were reported in the Wednesday crash between the self-operating vehicle and a semitractor. It’s not yet clear what caused the wreck.

Officials had hosted an unveiling ceremony to promote what they described as the nation’s first self-driving shuttle pilot project geared toward the public.

The oval-shaped shuttle that can transport up to 12 passengers has an attendant and computer monitor, but no steering wheel and no brake pedals. It uses GPS, electronic curb sensors and other technology to make its way.

Before it crashed, dozens of people had lined up in downtown Las Vegas to get a free ride.

Police say the crash blocked traffic near the Fremont Street entertainment district.

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @STGnews

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!

14 Comments

  • NickDanger November 8, 2017 at 5:14 pm

    “Before it crashed, dozens of people had lined up in downtown Las Vegas to get a free ride.”

    This is why the USA rules the world. Completely new technology untested in real world conditions? Let me ride!

    Inauspicious start for this stage of transportation evolution.

  • paul November 8, 2017 at 7:25 pm

    haha funny stuff,,,,,, do we really know what we are doing……..

  • DRT November 8, 2017 at 8:06 pm

    I believe that it was about mid summer, when the first driverless semi hauled a load of beer from Coors in Golden, CO to distributor in Pueblo, CO. News reports at the time said that the test “went well.” Of course, they did have someone on board the truck, but he wasn’t driving it. Oh yeah, they also had a Colorado State Patrol escort, that closed the freeways to other traffic around the truck.
    I won’t make any comments about my opinion of this.

  • utahdiablo November 8, 2017 at 8:51 pm

    Love the signage “Hop on AAA”….yeah AAA, you and the hands free bus will be paying for my new Mansion if you hit me or mine….lottery time baby

  • knobe November 8, 2017 at 9:12 pm

    No back-up brakes & No back-up steering wheel ? Seriously ?
    Geeee , what could go wrong there ?

  • knobe November 8, 2017 at 9:15 pm

    Also , I’m not seeing lines on that street , just lots of black pavement .
    Auto pilot on other vehicles uses sensors that follow the lines .
    When No lines , the human has to navigate .
    What was This thing using for nav sensors ?
    ?

  • Dirtrnr November 8, 2017 at 10:30 pm

    You supremely knowledgeable tech critics may want to wait until its “clear what caused the wreck” .. latest news reports say the shuttle stopped, the driver of the truck didn’t .. the human driver with a steering wheel and brakes and ability to navigate as a human caused the accident .. a more sensational headline would be, “stationary vehicle crashes into moving truck” .. https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/local-las-vegas/downtown/human-at-fault-in-accident-with-las-vegas-driverless-shuttle/

  • UtahPatriot November 9, 2017 at 7:43 am

    “Police say no injuries were reported in the Wednesday crash between the self-operating vehicle and a semitractor. It’s not yet clear what caused the wreck.”

    Really? Not yet clear what caused the wreck? I might be able to help out in this investigation there Skippy.

  • justsaying November 9, 2017 at 7:47 am

    I read in another article that the driver of the truck that this vehicle hit was cited for “illegal backing”…??? He was backing into a dock, just a regular work day for him, there’s a photo of the incident…then this dumb driverless vehicle rolls up and stops because it must notice the truck, but doesn’t move back to give the delivery truck room to continue backing…and he gets a ticket?? That is insane and I hope he fights it tooth and nail. Is this what we’re going to have to deal with? When a driverless vehicle gets into the crash it’s automatically going to be the other human at fault? Supposedly this thing doesn’t even have reverse or a steering wheel.

    • PatriotLiberal November 9, 2017 at 2:18 pm

      Sounds like the truck driver forgot to look.

  • Wolverine November 9, 2017 at 8:16 am

    For a country worried about jobs going away, why are we even thinking of doing this? There are hundreds of thousands if not millions of people that drive as their profession. I can only see this as a positive if it were much much safer… which it appears to not be at this point as evidenced above. smh

  • .... November 9, 2017 at 10:02 am

    Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Viva Las Vegas

  • rusty shackleford November 9, 2017 at 1:15 pm

    It probably drives better than the drivers here in St. George.

  • indy-vfr November 9, 2017 at 9:36 pm

    In STG the driverless vehicle who need to be programmed for 10 to 20 mph over to avoid being rear-ended!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.