General Motors Co‘s GM self-driving unit Cruise might be fined and faced with other sanctions over alleged failure to disclose details of the pedestrian injury incident a Cruise autonomous vehicle was involved in on Oct. 2.
What Happened: California Public Utilities Commission administrative law judge and a commissioner ordered Cruise to appear at a Feb. 6 hearing and show cause as to why it should not be fined or sanctioned by the commission. The commission alleges that Cruise failed to provide ‘complete information’ and made ‘misleading public comments’ regarding the accident which occurred in San Francisco on Oct. 2.
In the incident, a human-driven vehicle traveling adjacent to a Cruise AV collided with a pedestrian, sending the pedestrian across the vehicle and onto the ground in the path of the AV. The AV made contact with a pedestrian and pulled them forward by about 20 feet.
As per the 13-page ruling, Jose Alvarado of Cruise informed the commission of the collision a day after the incident. Alvarado’s description of the accident, however, omitted that the Cruise vehicle had dragged the pedestrian an additional 20 feet. Cruise provided the full video of the incident only on Oct. 19.
“Thus, from October 3, 2023 to October 18, 2023, Cruise failed to provide the Commission with a full account of the October 2, 2023 incident for 15 days,” the ruling stated. Despite the delay, the company later said in a blog post that it cooperated proactively with the commission, thereby misleading the public, the commission said.
On reaching out to Cruise, a company spokesperson told Benzinga, “Cruise is committed to rebuilding trust with our regulators and will respond in a timely manner to the CPUC.” It also added that it has retained law firm Quinn Emanuel to examine Cruise's response to the accident, including interactions with regulators.
Accident And Subsequent Events: Cruise paused its autonomous vehicle operations in San Francisco in October following a directive from the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). California DMV suspended Cruise's autonomous vehicle deployment and driverless testing permits, citing "unreasonable risk" to public safety. The authority further alleged that the company misrepresented information on the safety of its autonomous technology.
Cruise’s operations in Austin, Phoenix, and Houston were suspended a few days later. Early in November, the company announced that it is also pausing supervised and manual AV operations in the U.S., in a bid to rebuild public trust and undergo a full safety review.
Company CEO Kyle Vogt also stepped down from his role last month.
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