Cruise Initiates Cautious Restart

Gábor Bíró • June 15, 2024

2 min read

General Motors' self-driving taxi company, Cruise, is gradually restarting its operations following a tragic accident involving an autonomous vehicle, which led to the suspension of its license in California and a halt to its nationwide services. The company is now focusing on rebuilding trust, enhancing safety measures, and collecting necessary data for future driverless operations.

In October 2023, a Cruise self-driving car dragged a pedestrian for approximately 20 feet (about 6 meters) in San Francisco, causing severe injuries. The incident occurred after the pedestrian was first struck by a human-driven vehicle <0xC2><0xA0>. Following the tragic event, the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoked Cruise's permits in the state, citing a lack of cooperation during the investigation and safety concerns.

Following the October incident, Cruise voluntarily halted all its operations nationwide and faced investigations from federal regulatory authorities, including:

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) launched investigations into the company in January 2024.
Cruise underwent significant internal changes, including the resignation of the CEO and other executives, as well as reducing its workforce by approximately 25%.
An internal investigation by the company, conducted by the law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, identified shortcomings such as an "us versus them" mentality towards regulators and too narrow a focus on avoiding the specific incident.

Cruise implemented several safety measures and leadership changes following the October events. The company updated its software to improve responses to similar future events and sought external expertise to enhance safety protocols. Additionally, Cruise replaced several executives, including the CEO, with individuals more closely aligned with General Motors to ensure better oversight and alignment with safety standards.

Under new leadership, Cruise acknowledged that it had not met expectations and emphasized the need to meet the legitimate expectations of regulators and communities. The company is now diligently working to address the shortcomings identified during the internal investigation and rebuild trust with stakeholders.

Cruise is now focusing on rebuilding trust with regulators and the public through a cautious approach and gradually restarting its driverless operations. The company plans to restart testing with manually driven vehicles in cities like Phoenix, Dallas, and Houston to collect essential data, such as:

Speed limits, stop signs, traffic lights, lane markings, and right-turn-only lanes.
Creating detailed maps of cities for the eventual resumption of driverless operations.

Although Cruise has not set a specific timeline for when it will start carrying passengers in its autonomous vehicles again, its goal is to restart service in one city as soon as possible with manually driven vehicles and supervised testing, after taking the necessary steps to rebuild trust with regulators and the public.

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