Cruise to pay $1.5M penalty in connection with San Francisco pedestrian accident, NHTSA says
General Motors' Cruise autonomous vehicle division will pay a $1.5 million penalty as part of a consent order after the unit failed to fully report a crash in San Francisco last October involving a pedestrian, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration officials said.
Cruise suspended operations just over a year ago following a pedestrian accident on Oct. 2, 2023, where one of its Chevrolet Bolt autonomous electric vehicles dragged a San Francisco woman around 20 feet to the curb at approximately 7 miles per hour after she was hit by a human-driven vehicle.
Three weeks later, the California Public Utilities Commission suspended Cruise's driverless testing permit. Soon afterwards, the company pulled all its driverless cars off the road nationwide.
The incident sparked widespread criticism of the company and its autonomous vehicles. Cruise had already been under fire for a number of collisions that led the company to cut its operating robotaxi fleet in during the summer of 2023.
In January, the company offered to pay $75,000 to settle the investigation by California state regulators into Cruise's failure to disclose details regarding the collision.
The NHTSA said on Monday that as part of a consent order, Cruise will also have to submit a corrective action plan on how it will improve its compliance with the standing general order, which is for crashes involving automated driving systems.
"It is vitally important for companies developing automated driving systems to prioritize safety and transparency from the start," NHTSA Deputy Administrator Sophie Shulman said in a statement. "NHTSA is using its enforcement authority to ensure operators and manufacturers comply with all legal obligations and work to protect all road users."
The consent order's base term is two years. The NHTSA has the option to extend the order for a third year.
"Our agreement with NHTSA is a step forward in a new chapter for Cruise, building on our progress under new leadership, improved processes and culture, and a firm commitment to greater transparency with our regulators," said Steve Kenner in a prepared statement, the chief safety officer for Cruise. "We look forward to continued close collaboration with NHTSA as our operations progress, in service of our shared goal of improving road safety."
Cruise will meet quarterly with the NHTSA to talk about the state of its operations, and to review the periodic reporting and progress on the requirements of the consent order. Cruise will also submit a final report detailing its compliance with the consent order and state of operations 90 days before the end of the base term.
Cruise has been making moves to return to operation since June, when General Motors named Marc Whitten -- one of the key engineers behind the Xbox video game console -- as the division's new chief executive. Last month, Cruise announced its robotaxis would join Uber's ride-hailing service in 2025 as part of a multiyear partnership bringing together two companies that once appeared poised to compete for passengers.
