San Francisco, the city driven to distraction by autonomous car glitches

Self-driving cars operated by firms including Cruise have been blamed for causing disruptionBy the time one of San Francisco’s growing fleet of self-driving taxis chanced upon a huge fire on Hayes Street it had trained for “millions of miles”, its manufacturers said, to keep passengers safe. Yet fire crews, having already rescued 25 people and three dogs from their homes in the early hours of January 21, watched aghast as a vehicle operated by the company Cruise did not stop. SponsoredInstead, according to reports, it crept its way on to the scene, driving over fire hoses despite two rescue workers standing in front of it in an attempt to trigger its safety function. As it inched forward, one rescue worker smashed a front window, finally bringing the car to a halt. Waymo, a subsidiary of the internet giant Google, has logged millions of test miles in San Francisco JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGESThe incident illustrated the extent to