--- title: "Brand New Robotaxis Immediately Cause Traffic Jam in Houston" description: "Unfortunately for autonomous carmaker Cruise, its Houston beta test didn't get off to a very hot start this week." date: "2023-09-28" modified: "2023-09-28" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/robotaxis-causing-traffic-jam-houston" categories: - "Advanced Transport" tags: - "Autonomous vehicles" - "cruise" - "robotaxi" - "the digest" --- # Brand New Robotaxis Immediately Cause Traffic Jam in Houston ![Unfortunately for autonomous carmaker Cruise, its Houston beta test didn't get off to a very hot start this week.]() *A Cruise technician removes a cone from the hood of a disabled self-driving robotaxi in San Francisco, California on July 11, 2023. Members of SafeStreetRebel, a group of anonymous anti-car activists, have been actively calling for participants to help protest the spread of robotaxis for malfunctioning and blocking traffic. (Photo by Josh Edelson / AFP) (Photo by JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images) \Image: JOSH EDELSON via Getty Images\* ## Cruisin' and Bruisin' Autonomous carmaker Cruise started beta testing its robotaxis in Houston this week — and unfortunately for the company, things aren't off to a particularly inspiring start. As the [*Houston Chronicle* reports](), the newly rolled-out self-driving vehicles caused a traffic jam on Monday night when three of the cars slowed to a stop at an intersection, blocking all other vehicles from passing through while struggling to make sense of a four-way red light. Onlookers were quick to take to social media to share images of the slow-down, expressing their frustrations with the autonomous cars. "Three self-driving cars have blocked all traffic at Montrose and Hawthorne," read a [post]() from one X-formerly-Twitter user, complete with pictures of Cruise's Monday night debacle. "Is this really the future of mobility in America?" Another X user, Simon Newton, [posted a facepalm-inducing video]() showing several police officers struggling to get an inanimate and unmanned vehicle to cooperate with commands to get moving. "The police were tapping on the glass and asking the car to move on," Newton, a Montrose resident, later told the *Chronicle* of the comical police encounter. "All the other human-driven cars could respond to the police. The Cruise vehicles can't do that." https://twitter.com/simontrose/status/1706484095750979856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1706484095750979856%7Ctwgr%5Ecd7a7d3450b27d4d07649b1df947850e1656a47e%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.chron.com%2Fnews%2Fhouston-texas%2Ftransportation%2Farticle%2Fhouston-cruise-self-driving-cars-18390306.php ## Four-Way Failure Cruise has defended its vehicles, arguing that the cars had a really hard traffic problem to figure out, okay? "Our vehicles were stopped at an intersection where the lights were not cycling and showed all red," a Cruise representative told the *Chronicle*. "While some vehicles took a little time to safely navigate the intersection, all vehicles were able to clear the intersection autonomously. Safety is embedded in everything we do and our vehicles are designed to adhere to traffic signals and follow rules of the road." But Cruise's excuse for the cars' blunder perfectly illustrates one of the [central critiques]() of autonomous vehicles, which is that they often lack contextual nuance. Surely, an experienced human driver would have known to treat the red lights as a classic four-way stop; Cruise's vehicles, however, were unable to parse through the more layered traffic problem. This is just the latest embarrassment for Cruise. The startup has seen its cars cause traffic jams across Texas and California, causing [gridlocked streets in Austin]() and experiencing a [very sketchy WiFi failure in San Francisco](). And though Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt recently [told *The Washington Post*]() that he believes that the vehicles' failures are "sensationalized," the fact remains: the company's cars are anything but perfect, and the people who actually live in the communities where these cars are being tested are bearing the brunt of the cars' failures. **More on Cruise:**[ *Self-Driving Car Gets Stuck in Freshly Poured Concrete*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()