Cruise LLC, the self-driving unit General Motors, openly admitted at having submitted a false report in order to influence the outcome of a federal investigation and will pay a fine of $500,000.
The Department of Justice revealed on Thursday that both parties have agreed to go for a deferred prosecution agreement in order to avoid criminal prosecution.
It is alleged that Cruise falsified records in a federal investigation under the jurisdiction of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Cruise has agreed to resolve a criminal charge in federal court for providing a false record to NHTSA with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence the investigation of a crash involving one of Cruise’s autonomous vehicles.
The issue was related to a crash occurred in San Francisco on Oct. 2, 2023, when a Cruise robotaxi ran over a woman who had been thrown into the autonomous vehicle’s path by a human-driven vehicle.
Though the robotaxi stopped after running over the pedestrian, the vehicle’s detection system failed to detect the presence of a pedestrian underneath it. The Cruise vehicle then attempted to pull over to the side of the road with the woman underneath it, dragging the woman over 20 feet.
Federal regulations require Cruise to report incidents, including crashes involving Cruise autonomous vehicles, to NHTSA. The company, however, did not disclose the details involving a crash that happened in 2023 to the NHTSA.
Martha Boersch, head of the criminal division for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Francisco noted, “companies with self-driving cars that seek to share our roads and crosswalks must be fully truthful in their reports to their regulators.”
The recent three-year agreement between Cruise and the Justice Department provided several conditions that Cruise must comply else it could still be slapped with a criminal prosecution by the U.S. Attorney’s office. These conditions include cooperation with investigations by the government, implementation of a safety compliance program, and provide the U.S. Attorney’s Office with annual reports.
Prior to the agreement and following the uproar over the San Francisco incident, both the CEO and co-founder of Cruise resigned. Nine executives were fired and about 25% of the company’s workforce were laid off, including executives namely, the chief operating officer and the chief policy and legal officer, according to Reuters.
Cruise President Craig Glidden expressed the company’s abeyance to the agreement.
“Cruise will comply with the requirements set forth in the agreement, as we continue to move forward under new leadership and with a firm commitment to transparency with our regulators,” he said.
The investigation of the NHTSA on Cruise, whether the latter is taking the necessary steps to safeguard pedestrians while the robotaxis are in operation is still ongoing. Aside from the issues with the NHTSA, the company is also facing an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In August, the company recalled 1,200 robotaxis over hard breaking issues. In the same month, Cruise announced that it will offer its autonomous vehicles on Uber by next year.
