Judge orders GM's Cruise to explain why it shouldn't be fined for misleading regulators
Jamie L. LaReau, Detroit Free Press
Updated 5 min read
A California administrative law judge has ordered General Motors' self-driving car subsidiary Cruise to explain why it it should not be fined for "misleading" California regulators about an October accident in which a Cruise robotaxi struck and dragged a pedestrian several feet.
Cruise must submit a written response to the order by Dec. 18 and appear in court on Feb. 6. The company could face fines of $500 to $100,000 if it fails to argue its case successfully.
As the Free Press has reported, on Oct. 2 in San Francisco, a Nissan Sentra hit a pedestrian, pushing her into the path of an oncoming Cruise autonomous car. The Cruise vehicle braked hard, but hit her. The car then proceeded to drive 20 feet at 7 mph to the curb, dragging the woman and leaving her critically injured.
In a 13-page ruling issued Friday and obtained Monday by the Free Press, Judge Robert Mason ordered Cruise to explain why it "should not be fined, penalized, and/or receive other regulatory sanctions for failing to provide complete information to the [California Public Utilities] Commission.”
GM and Cruise promise cooperation, restored trust
Cruise spokesman Erik Moser told the Free Press Monday, "Cruise is committed to rebuilding trust with our regulators and will respond in a timely manner to the CPUC."
Moser noted that Cruise hired law firm Quinn Emanuel to examine the company's response to the incident, including Cruise’s interactions with law enforcement, regulators and the media.
"This outside review will help us learn in order to strengthen our protocols and improve our response to these types of incidents in the future," Moser said. He declined to say if Cruise will make the review's findings public or not.
GM spokesperson Faryl Ury said in an email to the Free Press Monday that "GM remains committed to supporting the independent safety reviews and Cruise as they refocus on trust, accountability and transparency.”
At a Monday evening Automotive Press Association event, Barra told reporters she expects the safety review and the examination of how Cruise handled the incident will be complete by early next year and, "We will be transparent" with the reports.
Barra said after GM studies those reports, it will determine how to proceed with Cruise. She said GM has learned lessons from the incident about "transparency and working with regulators," and that GM is "very focused on righting the ship there." Barra said she supports the technology and believes self-driving cars ultimately will be safer than human-driven vehicles.
A shortened video
The ruling states that Cruise Senior Manager Jose Alvarado called the California Public Utilities Commission to report the pedestrian accident on Oct. 3, the day after it occurred. But Alvarado’s description of the incident said the Cruise vehicle immediately stopped upon impact with the pedestrian. He omitted the critical information about the pullover maneuver, which resulted in the pedestrian being dragged.
That omission, "misled the Commission regarding the extent and severity of the October 2, 2023 incident, as well as the ability of Cruise’s AV’s to operate safely after experiencing a collision," the ruling stated.
In a Freedom of Information Act filed by the Free Press, documents from the California Department of Motor Vehicles show that on Oct. 3 the DMV was shown a video, provided by Cruise, from onboard vehicle cameras of the incident. The video ended at the hard stop when the pedestrian was struck. The department learned of the later movement by the vehicle from another government agency, the document said. It then requested the full video from Cruise, which it got on Oct. 13.
Similarly, Friday's ruling said several regulators asked Cruise for more information on the Oct. 2 incident and to hand over a "longer" video of the accident. The ruling says Cruise did not provide a full video until Oct. 19.
GM has owned Cruise since 2016 and invested some $8 billion into it over the years. Cruise had been operating in San Francisco, Phoenix and Austin, Texas. Since the accident, it has halted all operations and testing and recalled all of its 950 vehicles. GM has paused production at Factory Zero in Detroit and Hamtramck of what is to be the next generation Cruise vehicle — the Origin — a six-seater bus-like vehicle with no steering wheel or brake pedals.
A self-driving Cruise Origin which GM and Cruise are awaiting NHTSA's approval to mass produce.
The ruling noted that in an Oct. 24 blog by Cruise, the company asserted that "our team proactively shared information with the (Department of Motor Vehicles California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), including the full video, and have stayed in close contact with regulators to answer their questions."
Not so, said the ruling.
"That statement is misleading in two respects: first Cruise claims to have 'proactively shared information' when, in fact, it withheld information from the Commission for 15 days, thus misleading the Commission," the ruling asserts. "Second, by withholding information about the extent of the Cruise AV interaction with the pedestrian, Cruise misled the DMV and, in turn, the Commission into thinking that the original video shown and commented on accurately memorialized the full extent of the incident."
Cruise's blog page now indicates that the company removed that Oct. 24 blog stating it did so "out of respect to ongoing regulatory engagement," and it said it is reviewing its response to the Oct. 2 accident.
The pedestrian, whose identity has not been revealed, remains in the hospital, but is in “good condition” as of Nov. 28, according to a Monday report by Forbes crediting a spokesperson from the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital.
