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Cruise has been fined $1.5 million by the NHTSA for failing to report that its robotaxi dragged a pedestrian for 20 feet after a crash last year.
The fine is part of a consent order from the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) announced on Monday, September 30, requiring Cruise to submit a “corrective action plan” to improve safety compliance.
Under the consent order, Cruise must submit safety reports to the NHTSA every 90 days for two years, covering software updates and traffic law compliance. The NHTSA may extend this order for another year if necessary.
Steve Kenner, Cruise’s Chief Safety Officer, described the arrangement with the NHTSA as “a step forward in a new chapter for Cruise” and a “commitment to greater transparency with regulators.”
The Accident in San Francisco
The consent order follows the notorious collision in San Francisco in early October 2023, when one of its vehicles struck a pedestrian who had already been hit by another car, dragging her 20 feet before halting. Cruise reported that the vehicle braked “aggressively,” but rescuers had to free the woman’s leg.
Cruise and other AV companies must report crashes to the NHTSA. Cruise’s first report, submitted the day after the incident, did not mention the woman who was dragged, nor did the second report submitted within 10 days. It wasn’t until the third report, provided a month later, that Cruise provided complete information.
By then, the California DMV had accused Cruise of failing to share footage of the incident, leading to the suspension of its operating permits. The NHTSA noted in the consent order that Cruise “was aware of the vehicle’s post-crash behavior” when filing the first two reports but failed to include that information.
Cruise Facing Challenges and Opportunities
After California banned Cruise, the company recalled all 950 vehicles for software updates. Although it improved its crash response, the shutdown severely impacted operations, leading to the departure of 10 executives, including co-founders Dan Kan and Kyle Vogt, and a 24% staff layoff. In 2023, GM reported a $3.48 billion loss related to Cruise.
Over the past year, the company changed with new management and a smaller workforce. Recently, Cruise deployed manually driven mapping vehicles in Sunnyvale and Mountain View as initial steps to resume operations in the Bay Area, aiming for “supervised testing” this fall. It is also gradually returning its vehicles to the roads in Phoenix, Dallas, and Houston.
In the summer, GM announced that Cruise had paused the Origin self-driving taxi project to focus on a next-generation robotaxi based on the revived Chevy Bolt, reporting $2.4 billion in second-quarter pre-tax profit. Additionally, Cruise partnered with Uber to allow users to hail its self-driving taxis via the Uber app starting in 2025.
