Autonomous driving: Millions fine for Cruise
A year ago, a Cruise car hit a pedestrian in San Francisco. As Cruise submitted incomplete reports, the company now has to pay.
A cruise car.
(Image: Cruise)
An accident involving one of its autonomous cars in San Francisco a year ago has had another consequence for GM subsidiary Cruise. It has to pay a fine of 1.5 million US dollars (1.35 million euros) for withholding information about the incident, according to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Several of Cruise's reports were incomplete.
On October 2, 2023, a Cruise autonomous cab hit a woman in downtown San Francisco. She was trapped under the vehicle and had to be freed after the vehicle had driven a few more meters. Even then, it was said that Cruise had not initially passed on all camera footage of the vehicle for the subsequent investigation.
Stricter supervision
In addition to the fine, the NHTSA is also ordering Cruise to ensure that the company complies with the conditions under which it is allowed to operate its autonomous vehicles in the future. This includes ensuring that accident reports contain all the necessary details. Cruise is to submit a plan to the authority on how the company intends to improve.
The company is now under increased supervision for a total of two years. The NHTSA can still extend this period. Cruise is required to constantly report on how many journeys the company makes with how many autonomous vehicles over which routes, whether there are drivers on board and whether the cars have violated traffic regulations. Cruise should also disclose measurement data on safety and software updates for its vehicles and how these affect operations.
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Cruise had to suspend its operations with autonomous cars for a while after the incident in the USA a year ago. In April this year, Cruise cars returned to US cities, but not yet solely computer-controlled.
(anw)