GM’s Cruise to pay $500,000 fine for false report on San Francisco car crash

Cruise, GM’s (NYSE:GM) autonomous vehicle unit, has admitted to providing a false report with the aim of hindering a federal investigation of a crash involving its car, and agreed to pay a $500,000 criminal fine, the U.S. attorney’s office for the Northern District of California announced.

On October 2, 2023, a Cruise car in San Francisco ran over a pedestrian who had been thrown into its path by a human-driven vehicle.

The Cruise vehicle stopped after running over the pedestrian, but did not detect that she was underneath the car. It then attempted to pull over to the side of the road, dragging her over 20 feet.

While Cruise filed a report with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration describing the accident, it omitted reference to the secondary movement and dragging.

Cruise agreed to resolve the offense through a three-year deferred prosecution deal, which includes a $500,000 fine, implementing a Safety Compliance Program, and providing annual reports to the U.S. attorney’s office. If it fails to meet these requirements, the U.S. attorney’s office can proceed with prosecution of the offense.

“Cruise will comply with the requirements set forth in the agreement, as we continue to move forward under new leadership and with a firm commitment to transparency with our regulators,” its president Craig Glidden affirmed.

The investigations brought on by the accident led to Cruise’s CEO and its co-founder resigning last year, as well as layoffs.