GM’s Cruise faces fines after Oct. accident
Self-driving car subsidiary may be punished up to $100K
Jamie L. LaReau
A California administrative law judge has ordered General Motors’ self-driving car subsidiary Cruise to explain why 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 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.”
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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.”
Last week, GM CEO Mary Barra told investors that GM will be making “substantially lower spending” in Cruise in 2024 than it did in 2023. GM and Cruise have put in new leadership too after Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt resigned last month.
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 selfdriving cars ultimately will be safer than