Summary
Cruise, GM’s autonomous vehicle unit, admitted to submitting a false report to influence a federal investigation into a 2022 incident where a robotaxi dragged a pedestrian after a collision.
The company will pay a $500,000 criminal fine under a deferred prosecution agreement with the DOJ, requiring safety compliance and annual progress reports.
Cruise has faced multiple penalties, including a $1.5M NHTSA fine and losing operating permits in California.
Amid leadership changes and layoffs, Cruise is relaunching supervised autonomous driving and plans to partner with Uber in 2025.
A fine of less than a single percent of profit isn’t a fine, it’s a cost of doing business. Hit them where it hurts until they follow the rules, same as any other (nonrichwhite) citizen.
If anyone’s curious, it takes GM 2.6 minutes to make $500k of gross income.
