General Motors’s autonomous vehicle unit, Cruise, will pay a $1.5 million fine after it failed to disclose details initially about a serious crash involving a pedestrian last year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said Monday.
The fine stems from an October 2023 crash, during which a software issue prompted a Cruise vehicle to drag a pedestrian 20 feet on the road in San Francisco.
The incident unfolded on Oct 2., 2023, when a driver-operated car next to a Cruise vehicle collided with the pedestrian, pushing the person across the vehicle and onto the ground in the path of the Cruise car.
Cruise’s software incorrectly categorized the crash, causing the car to try to pull over out of traffic instead of staying stationary, according to company filings with the NHTSA.
The vehicle company filed an initial report with the NHTSA a day after the accident, but failed to disclose the Cruise vehicle dragged the pedestrian, the NHTSA said.
The General Motors-owned tech firm also failed to include a description of the car’s behavior after it initially came to a stop in both the initial and 10-day report, and it was not until nearly a month later that these details were submitted, according to the NHTSA.
The NHTSA announced the $1.5 million fine against Cruise as part of a larger consent order also requiring the company Cruise to submit a corrective action plan outlining any expected improvements in procedures and training.
The October 2023 crash put General Motors and Cruise under heavy scrutiny, prompting an investigation by the Justice Department and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
A month after the crash, Cruise recalled nearly 1,000 of its driverless cars to update their software. The autonomous vehicles were not back on the road until last May, when they were first deployed in Phoenix, Ariz.
In the months that followed the crash, now-former CEO Kyle Vogt resigned with little explanation for the decision. Weeks later, at least nine executives left Cruise following an “initial analysis” of the crash and Cruise’s response to it, the company said.
Cruise chief safety officer Steve Kenner called the agreement with the NHTSA a “step forward in a new chapter” for the company.
The agreement is “building on our progress under new leadership, improved processes and culture, and a firm commitment to greater transparency with our regulator,” he wrote in a statement to The Hill.
