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Cruise keeps getting kicked while it\u2019s down. The General Motors-owned robotaxi company may face fines and sanctions after failing to disclose details of an October 2 incident \u2014 specifically that one of its vehicles dragged a pedestrian 20 feet, according to a ruling<\/a> from a California agency.<\/p>\n The regulatory action comes as Cruise struggles to rebuild public trust and keep operations running after losing its permits<\/a> to operate in California for allegedly withholding crucial information from regulators about a crash in San Francisco.<\/p>\n Over the past two months, Cruise paused all driverless<\/a> and manual driving operations across the U.S., has implemented a safety review of its robotaxis, and tapped a law firm to examine its response to the incident. The company recalled its entire fleet<\/a> and halted production on its Origin robotaxi.<\/a> Its co-founder and CEO Kyle Vogt stepped down<\/a>, alongside chief product officer Daniel Kan.<\/p>\n The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on Friday ordered Cruise<\/a> to appear at a February 6 hearing to defend itself against accusations that it failed to provide \u201ccomplete information to the Commission\u201d regarding the incident, and \u201cfor making misleading public comments regarding its interactions with the Commission.\u201d<\/p>\n On the evening of October 2, a human driver struck a pedestrian in San Francisco, the impact of which caused the pedestrian to fall in a Cruise robotaxi\u2019s path. The AV instituted a hard-braking maneuver and came to a stop, but ended up running over the pedestrian in the process.<\/p>\n The CPUC \u2014 and the California Department of Motor Vehicles \u2014 says that order of events was shared with the agency. Cruise allegedly left out what came next. The Cruise AV attempted a pullover maneuver while the pedestrian was still stuck under the vehicle, resulting in them being dragged.<\/p>\n Per the CPUC\u2019s ruling:<\/p>\n On October 3, 2023, Jose Alvarado of Cruise telephoned Ashlyn Kong, a CPED analyst at the Commission, and informed her of the collision. During this telephonic meeting, Mr. Alvarado\u2019s description of the incident only included that the Cruise AV immediately stopped upon impact with the pedestrian and contacted Cruise\u2019s remote assistance. Mr. Alvarado\u2019s description of the October 2, 2023 incident omitted that the Cruise AV had engaged in the pullover maneuver which resulted in the pedestrian being dragged an additional 20 feet at 7 mph.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Over the next couple of weeks, the CPUC and the DMV issued data requests seeking more information of the incident, including video documentation. According to the CPUC, it took Cruise up to October 19, or a full 15 days, to provide the agency with the full video fo the incident.<\/p>\n After the incident, Cruise published a blog post, which it has since taken down, detailing the events. The company wrote in the post that it had \u201cproactively shared information\u2026including the full video\u201d with various regulators, including the DMV, CPUC and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Kong in a statement said that Cruise\u2019s blog post was \u201cinaccurate.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe full video was shared only in response to a data request more than two weeks after the incident,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The commission\u2019s ruling didn\u2019t include a specific penalty, but the agency can fine a public utility between $500 and $100,000 per day there is a violation, in addition to other penalties. That means Cruise could be looking at maximum $2.25 million in fines, given the amount of time it took the company to turn over a full video of the event.<\/p>\n The CPUC has already suspended Cruise\u2019s permits<\/a> to charge for passenger robotaxi rides in California, and it is considering the city of San Francisco\u2019s request to redo<\/a> the August hearing that granted Cruise a permit to charge in the first place. Alphabet-owned Waymo also received a similar permit<\/a> at the same time, despite strong opposition from city stakeholders. So far, Waymo has mostly managed to stay out of the public ire, but Cruise\u2019s woes affect the industry at large.<\/p>\n GM has until December 18 to hand-deliver a \u201cverified statement,\u201d which will include \u201call facts, arguments and legal authorities that support Cruise\u2019s position,\u201d to Administrative Law Judge Robert M. Mason III, \u201calong with a three-ringed binder containing a copy of all authorities cited in the verified statement.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Cruise told TechCrunch it is committed to rebuilding trust with regulators and will respond in a timely manner to the CPUC. GM is working with law firm Quinn Emanuel to examine Cruise\u2019s response to the October 2 incident, including the company\u2019s interactions with law enforcement, regulators and the media. Cruise also showed TechCrunch<\/a> a shortened version of the video in early October.<\/p>\n A spokesperson from the company said the outside review should help Cruise strengthen its protocols and improve its response to these types of incidents in the future.<\/p>\n It\u2019ll take time for Cruise to get back to where it was before this incident. GM had told investors that Cruise was on track to generate $50 billion in revenue per year by 2030. The company was expanding at a rapid clip, announcing new test and launch cities seemingly every week. Aside from San Francisco, Cruise had been charging for driverless rides in Austin, Houston and Phoenix, and had quietly launched driverless testing vehicles in Miami right before it lost its permits in California.<\/p>\n Cruise said last month that it plans to eventually relaunch in one city<\/a>, but didn\u2019t provide a timeline. The company is also reviewing layoff plans.<\/p>\n Last week, GM CEO Mary Barra said the automaker will slash spending on the unit next year by \u201chundreds of millions<\/a>.\u201d Cruise has lost more than $8 billion since 2017, including $732 million in the third quarter of 2023.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n