Cruise self-driving car, San Francisco fire truck collide

SAN FRANCISCO - A passenger in a driverless Cruise vehicle suffered injuries on Thursday after the vehicle was struck by a San Francisco fire truck that was responding to an emergency call.

The collision took place at 10:23 p.m. at the intersection of Turk and Polk streets, according to the San Francisco Police Department.

Authorities said that the fire truck was in "Code 3" emergency mode, which means its red lights and sirens were activated at the time of the crash.

The autonomous taxi had one passenger inside who was taken to a local hospital with injuries that are not considered life-threatening.

The police department did not disclose whether the driverless car yielded to the fire truck but emphasized that all vehicles, bicycles, and scooters are mandated to get out of the way of emergency vehicles that have activated lights and sirens. 

"Failing to yield to emergency vehicles, can slow responses to emergency calls for service, and, in some cases, prevent the emergency vehicle from being able to respond at all," the department wrote in a statement."

Cruise said on social media that it is aware of the incident involving one of its vehicles.

"Our primary concern is the rider and their welfare, and we have reached out to offer support. We are also deeply mindful of the well-being of the first responders and any individuals affected by this incident," the company said.

The company said it is investigating the incident to better understand their AVs (autonomous vehicle) performance and will be in contact with the city.

"These vehicles are equipped with external microphones that are supposed to pick up the sound of sirens from emergency vehicles and trigger them to pull over and stop," said autonomous vehicle expert Sam Abuelsamid of Guidehouse Insights. "So while the vehicle in general had the right of way, because it was going through a green light intersection, it probably should have been able to pick up that fire truck approaching and at least slow down before entering the intersection." 

On the same evening, another Cruise vehicle was involved in a crash at 26th and Mission streets.

Cruise confirmed that no passengers were in the vehicle at the time of the crash.

The autonomous vehicle was going through a green light when it was struck by another vehicle that ran a red light at a high speed.