California suspends GM's Cruise from deploying and testing driverless cars
Jamie L. LaReau, Detroit Free Press
Updated 4 min read
The California Department of Motor Vehicles suspended General Motors' self-driving car subsidiary Cruise on Tuesday from further testing and deploying of driverless cars in San Francisco after a pedestrian became pinned underneath a Cruise car earlier this month.
The accident happened on the night of Oct. 2, when a car with a person driving hit a pedestrian, launching her in front of a driverless Cruise car where she then became trapped underneath the Cruise vehicle. A San Francisco ABC affiliate listed the woman as having "multiple traumatic injuries" in a report it published. In a detailed blog on Cruise's website, the company explains what happened and provides a simulation of how the Cruise vehicles operate.
In a statement Tuesday, the motor vehicles department wrote: "The department’s autonomous vehicle regulations provide a framework to facilitate the safe testing and deployment of this technology on California public roads. When there is an unreasonable risk to public safety, the DMV can immediately suspend or revoke permits. There is no set time for a suspension."
General Motors and Honda have announced a partnership to develop an autonomous vehicle for Cruise. Cruise Automation Generation 2 Bolt EV AV self-driving technology on the streets of San Francisco in November 2017.
The department said it notified Cruise on Tuesday morning that it was suspending its autonomous vehicle deployment and driverless testing permits and it has provided Cruise with the steps to apply to reinstate its suspended permits. The department will not approve reinstatement until Cruise has met the state's requirements, it said. Cruise can still test the vehicles with a safety driver in place.
Cruise spokesperson Hannah Lindow said Cruise will be pausing operations of its driverless cars in San Francisco.
"In the incident being reviewed by the DMV, a human hit-and-run driver tragically struck and propelled the pedestrian into the path of the AV," Lindow said. "The AV braked aggressively before impact and because it detected a collision, it attempted to pull over to avoid further safety issues. When the AV (autonomous vehicle) tried to pull over, it continued before coming to a final stop, pulling the pedestrian forward. Our thoughts continue to be with the victim as we hope for a rapid and complete recovery."
Shortly after the incident, Lindow said Cruise's team proactively shared information with the state department, California Public Utilities Commission and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
"We have stayed in close contact with regulators to answer their questions and assisted the police with identifying the vehicle of the hit-and-run driver," Lindow said. "Our teams are currently doing an analysis to identify potential enhancements to the AV’s response to this kind of extremely rare event.”
Earlier this year, Cruise recalled the automated driving software in 300 of its vehicles after a collision with a bus in San Francisco. In August, Cruise agreed to cut its fleet of robotaxis in half as authorities investigated two crashes in the city. Most recently, NHTSA said it was investigating Cruise after receiving reports of incidents where vehicles may not have used proper caution around pedestrians, according to an AP report.
Lindow has cited Cruise’s safety record in over 5 million miles as having continuously outperformed comparable human drivers. Cruise communicates regularly with NHTSA and has consistently cooperated with each of NHTSA’s requests for information, she has said.
GM has owned Cruise since 2016. Cruise currently operates in San Francisco, Austin, Texas, and Phoenix. It plans to launch its robotaxi fleets in 12 additional markets in the U.S., but Detroit is not one of them yet. Cruise has been using modified self-driving Bolt vehicles in the robotaxi service it started operating in San Francisco in June 2022. It only recently got permission to start charging for rides.
A self-driving Cruise Origin which GM and Cruise are awaiting NHTSA's approval to mass produce.
Just last week, GM, Honda Motor and Cruise announced a new joint venture to bring driverless taxis to Tokyo in early 2026. The companies have a memorandum of understanding to form the joint venture, which will use the Cruise Origin self-driving vehicle for the future fleet in Tokyo.
The Origin, which is being built at Factory Zero in Detroit and Hamtramck, seats up to six passengers who sit face-to-face. GM will manufacture about 500 Origins at Factory Zero for the launch of this new joint venture, the automaker said in a statement.
On Tuesday, GM released its third-quarter earnings and in it noted that Cruise has yet to deliver a profit and is costing GM money. In the quarter, GM reported investing $732 million on Cruise compared with a year ago when GM spent $497 million. GM CFO Paul Jacobson said the additional investment is to help Cruise expand operations so it can hit its $1 billion revenue target in 2025.
