By David Shepardson
(Reuters) – General Motors’ self-driving car unit Cruise admitted on Thursday to filing a false report to influence a federal investigation and will pay a $500,000 criminal fine as part of a deferred prosecution agreement, it said Ministry of Justice.
The department said Cruise failed to disclose key details of an October 2023 accident to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in which one of its robotaxis struck a pedestrian in San Francisco after being struck by another vehicle, killing her six meters long (6.1). meters).
“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, chief of the criminal division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Francisco.
Under the three-year agreement, Cruise must cooperate with government investigations, implement a safety compliance program and provide annual reports to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which could pursue charges if Cruise fails to comply within the next three years.
“Cruise will meet the requirements set forth in the agreement as we continue to move forward under new leadership and with a firm commitment to transparency with our regulators,” Cruise President Craig Glidden said in a statement.
In response to the accident and subsequent investigations, Cruise’s CEO and co-founder both resigned, the company cut a quarter of its workforce and fired nine executives, including the Chief Operating Officer and the Chief Legal and Policy Officer.
The Cruise robotaxi stopped after running over the pedestrian, but then tried to drive to the side of the road with the woman underneath, dragging the seriously injured woman with it. Cruise’s report to the NHTSA omitted the reference to the towing. GM subsequently reached a settlement with the woman worth at least $8 million, a person confirmed to Reuters.
In September, Cruise agreed to pay a $1.5 million fine to resolve an NHTSA investigation. Cruise must submit a corrective action plan to NHTSA on how it will improve compliance with serious incident reporting and face more stringent reporting requirements for at least two years.
NHTSA’s investigation into whether Cruise is taking sufficient precautions to protect pedestrians with its autonomous robotaxis remains open. In August, Cruise recalled 1,200 robotaxis due to problems with hard braking.
The company is also facing an investigation from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Cruise has relaunched supervised autonomous driving tests in three US cities, but has abandoned its Origin vehicle, which has no human controls. The company said in August that it will offer its autonomous vehicles on the ride-hailing platform Uber (NYSE:) starting next year.
