(HorizonPost.com) – The California Public Utilities Commission last Friday ordered General Motors’ Cruise driverless car unit to testify at a February 6 hearing over “misleading” the commission about the seriousness and extent of an October accident and the “misleading public comments” the company made about its “interactions with the commission,” the Wall Street Journal reported.
Cruise allegedly provided misleading comments to California regulators about an October accident involving a Cruise driverless vehicle when a woman was struck by a car and thrown into the path of a Cruise vehicle. The driverless Cruise slammed into the woman and dragged her about twenty feet. She was taken to a nearby hospital suffering from traumatic injuries.
The Public Utilities Commission said Cruise omitted vital information about the safety of its vehicles even before the October accident. The commission also alleges that when a representative from Cruise contacted regulators the day after the accident, he did not reveal that the driverless vehicle dragged the woman.
The company has maintained that when regulators were notified the day after the accident, they were shown the full video of the incident.
The Public Utilities Commission, however, said it only learned that the woman was dragged when Cruise shared the complete video fifteen days later.
Cruise is facing a fine of up to $1.5 million from the state.
General Motors CEO Mary Barra said on Monday that GM is “very focused on righting the ship” at the troubled self-driving Cruise but said GM would not say how much it will invest in the company until after it completes two separate reviews, Reuters reported.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday, the GM CEO said the outside external safety review currently underway will provide a roadmap for GM’s path forward. The review is expected to be completed by the start of 2024.
Copyright 2023, HorizonPost.com
