GM-owned Cruise “failed to disclose” full video and key crash details, DMV said.
The CEO of self-driving car firm Cruise resigned yesterday following an accident in which a Cruise robotaxi dragged a pedestrian 20 feet. California officials accused Cruise of withholding key information and video after the accident, and the company’s self-driving operations are on hold while federal authorities investigate.
“Today I resigned from my position as CEO of Cruise,” co-founder Kyle Vogt wrote in a post on twitter.com. “The startup I launched in my garage has given over 250,000 driverless rides across several cities, with each ride inspiring people with a small taste of the future,” he also wrote.
Cruise is owned by General Motors, which bought the company in 2016. Vogt expressed optimism about Cruise’s future without him, saying the team is “executing on a solid, multi-year roadmap and an exciting product vision.”
“As for what’s next for me, I plan to spend time with my family and explore some new ideas. Thanks for the great ride!” Vogt wrote.
On Saturday, one day before resigning, Vogt reportedly apologized to staff in an email. “As CEO, I take responsibility for the situation Cruise is in today. There are no excuses, and there is no sugar coating what has happened. We need to double down on safety, transparency, and community engagement,” he wrote in the email quoted by Reuters.
Robotaxi kept moving after hitting woman
The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) last month suspended Cruise’s permits for autonomous vehicle deployment and driverless testing. Cruise subsequently announced a “pause” of all of its driverless operations in the US, which includes San Francisco, Austin, Phoenix, Houston, Dallas, and Miami. Cruise said the pause affects about 70 vehicles.Advertisement
The DMV action came three weeks after a Cruise vehicle hit and dragged a pedestrian in San Francisco. A woman entered a crosswalk at nighttime and was hit by two cars, the second of which was the Cruise vehicle. First, a Nissan Sentra “tragically struck and propelled the pedestrian into the path of the AV,” Cruise said in a description of the incident.
The Cruise vehicle then moved “rightward before braking aggressively, but still made contact with the pedestrian,” the company said. “The AV detected a collision, bringing the vehicle to a stop; then attempted to pull over to avoid causing further road safety issues, pulling the individual forward approximately 20 feet.”
The accident happened at 9:29 pm on October 2. The Nissan driver fled the scene, and Cruise said it was sharing information with authorities to help them track down the hit-and-run driver. The woman suffered severe injuries and was reportedly still in “serious condition” at San Francisco General Hospital in late October.
In an order of suspension that was published by Vice, the California DMV said that in a meeting on October 3, “Cruise failed to disclose that the AV executed a pullover maneuver that increased the risk of, and may have caused, further injury to a pedestrian. Cruise’s omission hinders the ability of the department to effectively and timely evaluate the safe operation of Cruise’s vehicles and puts the safety of the public at risk.”
The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on October 16 opened an investigation into Cruise vehicles after receiving reports of two pedestrian injuries, including the October 2 incident. The Cruise cars “may not have exercised appropriate caution around pedestrians in the roadway,” the agency said. Another Cruise robotaxi hit a fire truck in San Francisco in August.
DMV: Cruise didn’t provide full video
Cruise initially failed to provide the full video captured by the onboard camera, according to the suspension order. The footage shown to the DMV and California Highway Patrol during the October 3 meeting “ended with the AV’s initial stop following the hard-braking maneuver,” the suspension order said.
“Footage of the subsequent movement of the AV to perform a pullover maneuver was not shown to the department and Cruise did not disclose that any additional movement of the vehicle had occurred after the initial stop of the vehicle. The department only learned of the AV’s subsequent movement via discussion with another government agency,” the order said.
Cruise finally provided the additional footage on October 13 after a request by the DMV. Cruise subsequently announced that it hired law firm Quinn Emanuel to examine its “response to the October 2 incident, including Cruise’s interactions with law enforcement, regulators, and the media.”
Cruise said in a recent update on its website that “a comprehensive review of our safety systems and technology” will be conducted by a third-party engineering consulting firm, Exponent. The consulting firm was already analyzing the October 2 accident when Cruise decided to expand the scope of the review. Cruise said it was hiring a third-party safety expert “to perform a full assessment of Cruise’s safety operations and culture.”
Cruise also issued a recall for a portion of its AV software to address a problem “in which the Cruise collision detection subsystem may cause the Cruise AV to attempt to pull over out of traffic instead of remaining stationary when a pullover is not the desired post-collision response.”Advertisement
GM taking more active role in subsidiary
With Cruise in turmoil, General Motors “has taken a more active role in its subsidiary, and it is expected to deepen its involvement in Mr. Vogt’s absence,” according to The New York Times. “Instead of installing a new chief executive, GM appointed two presidents who will report to its board: Mo Elshenawy, Cruise’s executive vice president of engineering, and Craig Glidden, GM’s general counsel.”
Elshenawy will reportedly also become chief technology officer, a position previously held by Vogt.
GM CEO Mary Barra sent an email to Cruise employees on Sunday. “The board and I also want you to know that we are intensely focused on setting up Cruise for long-term success,” she wrote in the email quoted by the NYT. “Public trust is essential to this. As we work to rebuild that trust, safety, transparency and accountability will be our north stars.”
According to Reuters, Barra told employees that GM “continue[s] to believe strongly in Cruise’s mission and the potential of its transformative technology as we look to make transportation safer, cleaner and more accessible.”
Cruise confirmed that its board accepted Vogt’s resignation in a statement provided to Ars today. “As we previously announced, Cruise has paused operations while we take time to engage third-party experts and strengthen public trust,” the Cruise statement said. “The results of our ongoing reviews will inform additional next steps as we work to build a better Cruise centered around safety, transparency and trust. We will continue to advance AV technology in service of our mission to make transportation safer, cleaner and more accessible.”
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