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Cruise admits to filing a false report to influence the federal investigation into the San Francisco crash

Online Niel November 15, 2024

SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco-based self-driving vehicle company Cruise LLC has admitted to filing a false report to influence a federal investigation into a crash last year in which a pedestrian was struck and dragged 20 feetaccording to the authorities.

As part of a deferred prosecution agreement, Cruise will also pay a $500,000 fine, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement Thursday.

“Today’s deferred prosecution agreement holds Cruise LLC and its employees accountable for their dishonesty in a federal compliance action,” said Cory LeGars, special agent in charge with the Department’s Office of Inspector General of US Transportation. “Together with our law enforcement and prosecution partners, we will commit our collective resources to pursue companies and individuals who willfully evade the administration of federal regulations.”

The accident occurred in San Francisco on October 2, 2023, when a self-driving Cruise vehicle struck a woman who had been thrown into its path. The vehicle initially stopped; however, its detection system did not sense that a pedestrian was underneath it and attempted to stop, dragging the woman more than 20 feet.

The pedestrian was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries and later reached a multimillion-dollar settlement with the company’s parent, General Motors Co.

Cruise filed a report with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, as required by federal regulations, but omitted details about the shooting, prosecutors said.

Company employees later provided a video of the incident that showed the shooting.

On Thursday, the US Attorney’s Office charged Cruise with providing a false record to NHTSA with the intent to hinder, obstruct or influence the investigation of an accident involving one of his vehicles. The company settled the charge with a deferred prosecution agreement and a half million dollar fine.

The settlement requires Cruise to cooperate with investigations, implement a safety compliance program and provide annual implementation and remediation reports.

If the company doesn’t agree to the deal, the US Attorney’s Office can move forward with the case.

Prosecutors said they reached a settlement with Cruise based on several factors, including the company’s timely notification to the government of an internal investigation and its offer to cooperate after being notified that the government had opened an investigation.

Cruise’s cooperation included remedial measures, such as ensuring that the employees identified as responsible for the falsified report are no longer employed by the firm.

Former NHTSA ordered the company to pay a fine of $1.5 million for failing to correctly report the details of the accident as well as to submit a corrective action plan.

Following the crash, regulators suspended Cruise’s driverless test license. The company then grounded its autonomous vehicles nationwide. Chief executive Kyle Vogt resigned, nine executives were fired and about a quarter of the workforce was laid off.

Check back for updates.

Originally published: November 14, 2024 at 7:01 PM PST

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