GM’s Cruise will pay a $500,000 fine for filing a false accident report

GM’s robotaxi unit Cruise has agreed to pay $500,000 for filing a false accident report as part of a deferred prosecution agreement. The US Department of Justice (DoJ) said Cruise failed to disclose key details about a serious accident in October 2023 in which one of his vehicles struck a pedestrian and dragged her 20 feet (6 meters) after she was struck by another vehicle.

“Federal laws and regulations are in place to protect public safety on our roadways. Self-driving car companies that want to share our roads and crossings must be completely truthful in their reports to their regulators,” said Martha Boersch, head of the agency. Uber has not yet commented on the case.

Under the terms of the three-year settlement, Cruise must cooperate with the government, establish a safety compliance program and submit annual reports to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The company can still be prosecuted if it does not meet those conditions. Cruise was previously fined $1.5 million by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and reportedly reached a settlement with the victim worth at least $8 million.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Cruise’s driverless vehicle struck a pedestrian in San Francisco who had veered into his path after being struck by a separate human-driven vehicle. The Cruise vehicle initially stopped after running over the pedestrian, but its systems were unable to detect that she was still underneath the vehicle. The vehicle then tried to move sideways, dragging the woman for more than 20 feet. Cruise’s report to NHTSA did not mention dragging the victim after it struck her. (Cruise also omitted this information in statements to the press at the time of the accident.)

Cruise was subsequently stripped of his license to operate self-driving vehicles in California. The company halted all operations of both its self-driving cars and its crewed robotaxi service to participate in a comprehensive safety review. CEO Kyle Vogt resigned in November and GM announced plans to cut Cruise funding and restructure leadership based on external safety assessments. Nearly a quarter of the company’s workforce was cut in December.

Cruise vehicles remained off the road for several more months, but returned to Arizona in April and to Houston in June under the supervision of human drivers. In September of this year, Cruise resumed operations in California, again with human drivers at the wheel. In August, the company said its self-driving vehicles would come to Uber starting next year.