Cruise ‘misrepresented' and ‘omitted' key safety information, California DMV says

One day after a Cruise robotaxi struck a pedestrian in San Francisco this month, company executives met with officials from the California Department of Motor Vehicles to review the incident.

Cruise officials played video footage captured by the car's cameras at that meeting. It showed the pedestrian fall from the hood of another car and into the path of the Cruise vehicle, which then stopped on top of her.

What Cruise omitted from its presentation, DMV officials allege, was what happened next.

The vehicle then traveled another 20 feet at a speed of 7 mph, dragging the pedestrian along with it and potentially causing further injuries, according to two orders of suspension that the DMV issued Tuesday. It is unclear how much time elapsed between the car initially stopping and then traveling the final 20 feet.

Cruise, a General Motors subsidiary, never disclosed that subsequent movement to the DMV — or to select media outlets it showed the same video in the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 2 collision. It became public Tuesday, when the DMV suspended Cruise's deployment and testing permits in an unprecedented action.

DMV officials only learned of the vehicle's full actions following discussions with another governmental agency. After the DMV asked for it, Cruise provided the full video Oct. 13, the DMV said.

Both the vehicle's performance in the moment and Cruise's "omission" and "misrepresentation" of the incident form the basis of the DMV's suspension of Cruise's driverless deployment and testing permits.

"The subsequent maneuvering of the vehicle indicates that Cruise's vehicles may lack the ability to respond in a safe and appropriate manner during incidents involving a pedestrian," Bernard Soriano, a DMV deputy director, wrote in a letter to Cruise officials.

That led the DMV to determine Cruise vehicles "are not safe for the public's operation."

It's the second time in a week that a key regulator has questioned the competence of the company's vehicles around pedestrians, and the latest in a string of incidents in which Cruise vehicles have clustered at intersections and interfered with emergency responders.

NHTSA opened an investigation last week into two pedestrian collisions involving Cruise vehicles and two more incidents in which the regulator wants to explore whether Cruise robotaxis exercised "appropriate caution" around pedestrians.

The two suspension orders issued Tuesday go further than vehicle performance alone, with the DMV citing Cruise's "misrepresentation" of safety-related information in making its determination to suspend the company's permits.

"Cruise's omission hinders the ability of the department to effectively and timely evaluate the safe operation of Cruise vehicles and puts the safety of the public at risk," Soriano wrote.

Cruise said Tuesday it has complied with the suspension orders and paused its driverless operations in San Francisco. It is still allowed to operate with human safety drivers aboard vehicles. It was unclear whether Cruise would continue commercial operations in the city with a human behind the wheel.

Hannah Lindow, a spokesperson for the company, acknowledged the Cruise robotaxi moved after coming to a stop atop the pedestrian. She did not respond to a question about why the video the company showcased immediately after the crash omitted the additional movement.

"The [automated vehicle] braked aggressively before impact, and because it detected a collision, it attempted to pull over to avoid further safety issues," she said Tuesday. "When the AV tried to pull over, it continued before coming to a final stop, pulling the pedestrian forward."

There is no timetable for the company's permits to be reinstated, according to the DMV. The agency said it has outlined the necessary steps that Cruise must complete before the company can apply for reinstatement. The DMV hasn't publicly elaborated on those steps.

The suspension marks a substantial setback for a company that has sought to scale its robotaxi operations across the globe, and a black eye in its primary market and the city it calls home.

Cruise became the first company to start commercial driverless operations in San Francisco, in June 2022. Problems started almost immediately. Days after the start of service, a Cruise vehicle was involved in a crash in which at least one passenger sustained injuries.

More recently, San Francisco city officials expressed concern with the recurring clustering incidents and entanglements with first responders.

But those concerns were overridden just two months ago, when a separate regulatory entity, the California Public Utilities Commission, voted by a 3-1 margin to allow Cruise to expand the scope of its driverless operations across the city.

California follows a two-pronged regulatory approach: the DMV regulates vehicles and automated technology while the commission regulates commercial activity.

The 3-1 vote appeared to be a defining moment for robotaxi proponents in California, who broadly argued the potential for self-driving technology to eventually deliver widespread safety gains outweighed present-day growing pains.

Some who opposed Cruise's expansion in August cheered the DMV's decision Tuesday but lamented that, from their vantage point, it did not go far enough.

The Teamsters are "disappointed to see that the DMV is providing Cruise with a pathway to apply for license reinstatement," said Peter Finn, a vice president with the organization. "The agency itself has alleged that Cruise misrepresented information related to the safety of its vehicles. This company doesn't deserve a second chance."