Photo: Anadolu
A woman was seriously injured after she was struck by two cars in San Francisco. Authorities said the woman was struck by a driver who fled the scene. Then, as she was lying in the street, she was run over by a self-driving taxi operated by Cruise.
There were no passengers in the autonomous vehicle at the time of the incident.
Firefighters had to use the jaws of life to lift the car off the woman. She was then rushed to the hospital, where she remains in critical condition.
Videos of the incident, which were reviewed by KNBC, showed two vehicles stopped at a red light, with the human-driven car to the left of the autonomous vehicle. As the sedan crossed the street when the light turned green, it struck the woman, who was not in the crosswalk. She was thrown into the path of the Cruise self-driving car.
"The initial impact was severe and launched the pedestrian directly in front of the AV[autonomous vehicle]. The AV then braked aggressively to minimize the impact," Cruise said in a statement on X.
The San Francisco Police Department said the crash remains under investigation. They did not say if they had identified the driver who fled the scene.
"At the very minimum, we are canvassing the area for witnesses, for surveillance video, for any video that may have been captured by any personal individuals, as well as the technology that's utilized in the vehicle itself," Officer Robert Rueca said.