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Justin Sullivan

Self-driving car developer and GM subsidiary Cruise admitted Thursday to withholding key details about a horrific 2023 crash “with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence” a federal investigation, according to the U.S. attorney’s office for the Northern District of California. The company will pay $500,000 to resolve the criminal charges.

The justice department said Cruise must also implement a safety compliance program and submit annual compliance reports to the U.S. attorney’s office under the agreement.

Cruise was previously ordered to pay a $1.5 million fine by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which also found the company <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/09/30/cruise-fine-nhtsa-crash/" target=_blank>intentionally withheld information</a> about the crash that gravely injured a jaywalking pedestrian in San Francisco last year. The General Motors-owned company, once seen as a leader in the autonomous driving, has faced a string of investigations after initially misrepresenting the details of the October 2023 crash.

The incident occurred when a jaywalking pedestrian stepped into a busy intersection in San Francisco and was struck by a human-driven car. After rolling onto the windshield, the pedestrian was flung into the path of a driverless Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicle operated by Cruise. She survived but was gravely injured.

Footage of the crash initially shared by Cruise with The Washington Post, other media outlets and the California Department of Motor Vehicles showed its driverless vehicle stopping as soon as it made contact with the pedestrian.

But the company’s first report to NHTSA after the incident failed to mention that the vehicle subsequently started moving and “had dragged the pedestrian,” who was pulled 20 feet along the ground, <a href="https://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/consent-order-cruise-crash-reporting" target=_blank>according to the agency’s consent order</a> posted Monday.

“Federal laws and regulations are in place to protect public safety on our roads,” Martha Boersch, criminal division chief at the U.S. attorney’s office for the Northern District of California, said in a statement. “Companies with self-driving cars that seek to share our roads and crosswalks must be fully truthful in their reports to their regulators.”

Cruise pulled its driverless operations around the country immediately after the crash. The company said it issued a software update to the collision detection system that was responsible for dragging the pedestrian and replaced the leaders directly accountable for the company’s response, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/06/25/cruise-gm-new-ceo-marc-whitten/" target=_blank>including its former CEO, Kyle Vogt</a>.

Cruise has since restarted testing of its technology, under supervision from humans in the driving seat, in Phoenix, Dallas and Houston.

Pulitzer Prize finalist for investigative reporting, 2023 

Livingston Award finalist, 2023

Investigative Reporters and Editors Award for outstanding watchdog journalism, 2022

Scripps Howard finalist for excellence in multimedia journalism, 2023

Boston University, BA in journalism

Trisha Thadani joined The Washington Post in 2023 from the San Francisco Chronicle. She covers the technology industry.

Trisha Thadani

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GM’s self-driving unit Cruise pays $500,000 for a false crash report

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Self-Driving Cars, Now Common In San Francisco, Bring Backlash From Residents

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