GM's Cruise to Pay $1.5 Million NHTSA Fine for Driverless Car Collision With Pedestrian

By Sabela Ojea

Cruise, General Motor's self-driving car unit, will pay a total monetary penalty of $1.5 million to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for crashes involving automated driving systems.

The NHTSA on Monday said that Cruise signed a consent order in connection with several incomplete crash-related reports, two of which allegedly failed to disclose the post-incident details of an Oct. 2 crash.

Included in the order are both monetary and non-monetary provisions aimed at improving Cruise's compliance with the law and increase oversight of the company's safety practices, the NHTSA said, adding that Cruise has also amended four other reports to provide additional detail on other crashes.

The base term of the order is for two years and can be extended for a third at the NHTSA's option. Cruise and the NHTSA are set to meet quarterly to discuss the company's state of operations, as well as to review periodic reporting and progress on the order's requirements.

The order comes about eight months after Cruise said federal prosecutors were investigating the handling of the Oct. 2 incident, and that it was cooperating with the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission, among other state and federal agencies, examining the company's handling of the incident.

A woman in San Francisco was struck by a human-driven car and flung into the path of a self-driving Cruise vehicle, which then dragged her for about 20 feet. California regulators pulled Cruise's permits about two weeks later, claiming company officials weren't forthcoming in their explanations of what happened.

Write to Sabela Ojea at sabela.ojea@wsj.com; @sabelaojeaguix

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 30, 2024 12:19 ET (16:19 GMT)

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