GM’s Cruise gets $1.5 million penalty for keeping pedestrian crash details from safety regulator — Company omitted to mention that its self-driving taxi dragged a pedestrian along 20 feet (6.1 metres)
Cruise gets $1.5 million penalty for keeping pedestrian crash details from safety regulator
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Excerpts from [article](https://techcrunch.com/2024/09/30/cruise-1-5-million-penalty-omitting-pedestrian-crash-details-regulator/) by Sean O’Kane, re. NHTSA [consent order](https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.gov/files/2024-09/cruise-consent-order-2024-web.pdf):
*General Motors’ self-driving subsidiary Cruise must pay a $1.5 million penalty to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, after its initial reports to the safety regulator about last year’s pedestrian crash omitted that the company’s robotaxi dragged the woman 20 feet.*
*[…] Cruise will also have to submit safety reports to the regulator every 90 days for the next two years, along with a report detailing any software updates, and another detailing how its robotaxi fleet is complying with traffic laws.*
*NHTSA has the option to extend the length of the consent order an extra year.*
*Steve Kenner, Cruise’s chief safety officer, said in a statement that the consent order represents “a step forward in a new chapter” for the company, and that it represents “a firm commitment to greater transparency with our regulators.”*
*The consent order comes nearly one year after the infamous crash occurred in San Francisco. The pedestrian was first struck by a human-driven vehicle, and ended up in the path of the Cruise robotaxi.*
*While the Cruise AV braked, it still struck the pedestrian, and came to a stop. But then the robotaxi moved to the side of the road and dragged the pedestrian with it.*
$1.5 million is nothing when the average insurance value of a single human life is $6 million, in terms of personal loss, lost income taxes, lost labor value, etc.
That’s….what?…..five or six FTE engineers salary? oooh.
GE made 12.4 billion dollars in 2023. This fine is 0.0120967742% of their yearly profits (likely less, since they’ve probably gone up this year). That’s like if you, a normal human being making $60,000 a year, had to pay $7.25 because you murdered a person and tried to cover it up.
America is broken.
TBF. It’s a self driving car, not a self stopping, reversing, then fleeing the scene car.
As far as I can tell they stopped all cruise operations in SF because of this.