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The California Public Utilities Commission has suspended Cruise\u2019s authority to carry and charge passengers for its robotaxi service, following similar action from the state\u2019s Department of Motor Vehicles.<\/p>\n
The CPUC is also \u201cindependently carrying out investigatory activities into recent incidents involving passenger service,\u201d Terrie Prosper, director of news and outreach at the CPUC, told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n
The agency\u2019s decision comes just three months after it\u00a0awarded Cruise<\/a> the final necessary permits to charge passengers for robotaxi rides in San Francisco. Until then, Cruise had been running a free service in the city. The CPUC\u2019s suspension also follows the California Department of Motor Vehicle\u2019s suspension<\/a> of Cruise\u2019s deployment and driverless testing permits Tuesday.<\/p>\n The DMV\u2019s order of suspension, which TechCrunch has viewed, states that Cruise withheld video footage from an ongoing investigation. The DMV was investigating Cruise following a series of incidents, specifically one on October 2 that left a pedestrian, who had been initially hit by a human-driven car, stuck under a Cruise robotaxi<\/a> and then dragged for 20 feet at 7 miles per hour by the AV.<\/p>\n The agency said when it met with Cruise representatives on October 3 to view footage of the accident, Cruise only presented the AV\u2019s initial stop following a hard-brake maneuver. The subsequent movement of the AV to perform a \u201cpullover maneuver,\u201d which resulted in the pedestrian being dragged, was left out, according to the DMV. (Cruise also showed TechCrunch an edited version of the event, omitting the subsequent movement. At the time, Cruise presented it as the full video).<\/p>\n The DMV said another government agency alerted it to the missing footage, prompting it to request the full video from Cruise, which the company provided on October 13.<\/p>\n In a tweet on Tuesday, Cruise denied the DMV\u2019s claims and said it proactively shared information with the DMV, the CPUC and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), including the full video.<\/p>\n NHTSA is also investigating Cruise<\/a> in regards to this event, plus a number of other incidents such as Cruise\u2019s collision with an emergency vehicle<\/a> and dozens of instances of robotaxis malfunctioning and blocking traffic and first responders.<\/p>\n The CPUC did not confirm or deny Cruise\u2019s claim that it had shared the full video with the agency immediately after the October 2 accident.<\/p>\n \u201cOur Consumer Protection and Enforcement Division is actively gathering, reviewing, and analyzing incident-related information from Cruise as part of our ongoing evaluation of its passenger service<\/span>\u00a0<\/b>operations and assessment of any possible violations,\u201d said Prosper. \u201cWe will maintain close coordination with the California DMV throughout the ongoing investigation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The CPUC also did not respond to TechCrunch\u2019s inquiry regarding whether the agency will reinstate Cruise\u2019s permits if and when the DMV does.<\/p>\n Despite the fact that the DMV first gave Cruise permission to test and deploy its AVs across San Francisco, the CPUC received pushback for giving Cruise the go-ahead to expand its commercial service city-wide and 24\/7. The CPUC\u2019s August hearing<\/a> to determine expansion for Cruise and its competitor Waymo included hours of protestations from opponents who feared for public safety and were concerned about traffic flow.<\/p>\n A month after Cruise received its CPUC permit, the city of San Francisco formally requested state regulators redo their decision<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n