California Revokes Cruise Robotaxi Permits Over Withheld Crash Video
The California DMV revokes Cruise's driverless vehicle permits after finding the GM subsidiary withheld crucial video and details about a pedestrian crash in San Francisco.
The California Department of Motor Vehicles revokes the permits for Cruise to test and operate fully driverless vehicles on state roads. The DMV takes this action because Cruise, a self-driving vehicle subsidiary of General Motors, withholds video footage and critical information about a recent crash involving a pedestrian. The agency states that Cruise misrepresents information related to the safety of its autonomous technology, making the permit revocation necessary.
This suspension follows a disturbing incident in downtown San Francisco approximately three weeks ago. A human-driven vehicle hits a pedestrian and propels the victim into the path of a Cruise robotaxi, which then strikes the pedestrian a second time. Instead of staying still, the driverless car attempts to pull over and drags the pedestrian along the road for 20 feet at a speed of about seven miles per hour, resulting in multiple serious injuries.
Regulators state that Cruise fails to inform them that the vehicle dragged the pedestrian across the roadway during its attempt to pull over. Furthermore, the video footage that Cruise initially provides to authorities cuts off shortly after the initial impact, omitting the dragging portion of the event. Because of these alarming omissions, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also opens an investigation into the safety of Cruise autonomous vehicles around pedestrians.