On January 5, General Motors’ Cruise robotaxi division proposed a settlement of $75,000 to resolve an inquiry made by a California regulator regarding the company’s failure to disclose information about a self-driving car crash involving a pedestrian.
The California Public Utilities Commission had ordered Cruise to appear at a hearing on February 6 after accusing the company of misleading public statements regarding their dealings with the agency and not providing full disclosure about the magnitude and significance of the accident. Moreover, Cruise hired Quinn Emanuel law firm to review its response to the accident, stating that it expects the investigation to be completed and the results to be made public before the hearing.
After the October crash, Cruise dismissed nine executives, including its chief operating officer and chief legal and policy officer. However, the company asked for the hearing to be postponed and sought an alternative method of resolving conflicts. Following the accident in October, which led to California suspending Cruise’s permission for its driverless testing, the robotaxi firm removed all its vehicles from self-driving testing in the U.S.
Cruise expressed its commitment to implementing significant process improvements in its interactions with regulators and rebuilding regulatory trust with the commission.
In December, Cruise announced that it had laid off 900 of its 3,800 employees, or 24% of its staff.
The commission alleges that a Cruise representative contacted one of its analysts on the day following the collision in December to report the incident. However, the representative failed to disclose that the Cruise AV had executed the pullover maneuver, which caused the pedestrian to be carried an additional 20 feet at a speed of seven mph.
