Cruise Fined $1.5M for Withholding Pedestrian Crash Details from NHTSA
General Motors’ autonomous vehicle subsidiary Cruise has agreed to pay a $1.5 million penalty to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for failing to disclose critical details about a 2023 pedestrian accident involving one of its robotaxis. The settlement, announced September 30, 2024, comes nearly a year after the controversial San Francisco incident.
The Consent Order and Its Requirements
Under the terms of the consent order, Cruise must:
- Submit a corrective action plan detailing compliance improvements
- Provide quarterly safety reports for two years (with possible one-year extension)
- Document all software updates and traffic law compliance measures
“Companies developing automated driving systems must prioritize safety and transparency from the outset,” emphasized NHTSA Deputy Administrator Sophie Shulman in an official statement.
Timeline of the Incident and Reporting Failures
The October 2023 crash involved a pedestrian who:
- Was initially struck by a human-driven vehicle
- Landed in the path of a Cruise autonomous vehicle (AV)
- Was hit again when the AV attempted to pull over, dragging the victim 20 feet
Cruise’s reporting timeline reveals significant omissions:
- Day 1 report: No mention of dragging incident
- 10-day report: Continued omission of critical details
- 30-day report: Full disclosure finally provided
NHTSA determined Cruise knew about the dragging incident when filing the initial reports but chose to withhold the information. This followed similar allegations from the California DMV, which suspended Cruise’s operating permits over failure to share crash footage.
Cruise’s Road to Recovery
Following the incident, Cruise has undergone significant changes:
- Implemented new leadership
- Reduced workforce
- Paid fines to California regulators ($112,500 in June 2024)
- Began limited human-supervised testing in Mountain View and Sunnyvale (September 2024)
“This consent order marks a step forward in our new chapter,” stated Steve Kenner, Cruise’s Chief Safety Officer. “We’re firmly committed to greater transparency with regulators moving forward.”
The Bigger Picture for Autonomous Vehicles
This case highlights the regulatory challenges facing AV developers, particularly:
- The importance of complete incident reporting
- Need for clear communication protocols with regulators
- Ongoing public safety concerns about autonomous technology
As Cruise works to rebuild trust, the industry watches closely—recognizing that transparency may prove as crucial to AV adoption as the technology itself.
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