Cruise was fined $500,000 for filing a false report alleging a pedestrian was towed by a self-driving car

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A General Motors Cruise self-driving car, often called a robotaxi, drives in front of the Ferry Building at the Embarcedero, San Francisco, California, August 17, 2023. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)

SAN FRANCISCO – Autonomous vehicle company Cruise has agreed to pay a fine for filing a false tax return on one of its self-driving cars dragging a pedestrian after an accident last year in San Francisco, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Thursday.

The deferred prosecution agreement includes a $500,000 criminal fine for the San Francisco-based company.

The accident occurred on October 2, 2023 near Market and Fifth Streets in San Francisco, where a hit-and-run driver struck a woman crossing the street into a red light, putting her into the path of the Cruise vehicle.

The self-driving Cruise vehicle stopped after running over the woman, but failed to spot her underneath the car and attempted to stop, dragging the woman more than 20 feet, prosecutors said.

Cruise filed a report with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as required, describing the accident but omitting reference to the secondary movement and the pedestrian being dragged. And during a videoconference with transportation officials the next morning, Cruise employees provided a summary of the accident, without describing the towing, prosecutors said.

“Cruise employees attempted to show a video of the accident that showed the towing, but due to technical difficulties, the portion of the video showing the towing could not be played,” according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

That afternoon, Cruise filed a one-day report with NHTSA, specifically requiring “a written description of the pre-crash, crash, and post-crash details.” However, Cruise’s story left out the towing, which prosecutors say made the report inaccurate and incomplete.

That same day, Cruise employees provided a copy of the video showing the towing to the transportation agency, but Cruise did not correct the accident report or the disclosure in a report filed ten days after the accident.

“Federal laws and regulations are in place to protect public safety on our roadways. Self-driving car companies that want to share our roads and crossings must be completely truthful in their reports to their regulators,” said Martha Boersch, head of the agency. of the United States Attorney’s Criminal Division.