Cruise To Pay $500,000 Settlement for Providing False Record Following Car Crash

Cruise agreed to pay a $500,000 settlement in a federal court for providing a false record of a crash involving a pedestrian, with “the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence the investigation.”

In October 2023, a human-driven car struck a San Francisco pedestrian and sent her body into the path of Cruise’s autonomous vehicle.

The robotaxi firm reported the incident to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). However, the court found Cruise failed to report that its vehicle did not detect that the victim was under it, and then attempted to pull over to the side of the road, dragging the victim over 20 feet. 

As per the judgment, though it did eventually submit video evidence of the crash which showed the woman being dragged, it did not update the accident report or the disclosure in a report that was submitted 10 days after the crash.

Cruise will now need to co-operate with government investigations, implement a Safety Compliance Program, and provide annual reports to the United States Attorney’s Office.

“Companies with self-driving cars that seek to share our roads and crosswalks must be fully truthful in their reports to their regulators,” said Martha Boersch, who heads the criminal division for the US attorney’s office in San Francisco.

A large portion of Cruise’s operations immediately drew to a halt in the immediate aftermath of the incident, while its corporate leadership underwent serious changes.

California’s DMV suspended Cruise’s permit to test self-driving cars over public safety concerns, while Cruise temporarily froze operations in all markets “to rebuild trust.”

Cruise’s CEO Kyle Vogt stepped down from his position in November 2023 shortly after the incident, while parent firm General Motors cut the company’s workforce by 24%.

Despite the setbacks, we will still likely see plenty of Cruise’s vehicles on the roads. 

The company’s robotaxis are set to come to Uber at an unspecified point in 2025, in what is expected to be a multiyear deal, though passengers can choose to pick a human-driven vehicle.

Meanwhile, Cruise has reopened its service in areas like the Bay Area, Dallas, and Phoenix.

The company reported $3.48 billion in operating losses last year.

About Will McCurdy

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I’m a reporter covering weekend news. Before joining PCMag in 2024, I picked up bylines in BBC News, The Guardian, The Times of London, The Daily Beast, Vice, Slate, Fast Company, The Evening Standard, The i, TechRadar, and Decrypt Media.

I’ve been a PC gamer since you had to install games from multiple CD-ROMs by hand. As a reporter, I’m passionate about the intersection of tech and human lives. I’ve covered everything from crypto scandals to the art world, as well as conspiracy theories, UK politics, and Russia and foreign affairs.

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