GM Cruise could face state fines over Oct. 2 pedestrian accident

By Hyunjoo Jin and David Shepardson

(Reuters) - General Motors' self-driving unit Cruise could face fines and sanctions over its failure to disclose details of an Oct. 2 accident in which a robotaxi dragged a pedestrian 20 feet (6.1 meters) after being struck by another vehicle, a California agency said.

The growing regulatory pressure could hamper GM and Cruise's effort to rebuild trust after coming under fire for allegedly withholding information about the crash in San Francisco.

Last month, Cruise paused all supervised and manual car trips in the United States and expanded a safety review of its robotaxis, and CEO Kyle Vogt and chief product officer Daniel Kan both stepped down.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on Friday ordered Cruise to appear at a Feb. 6 hearing for "misleading the Commission through omission regarding the extent and seriousness of the accident" and "making misleading public comments regarding its interactions with the commission."

On Oct. 3 Jose Alvarado, a senior manager of government affairs at Cruise, telephoned commission analyst Ashlyn Kong and informed her of the collision. His description "omitted that the Cruise AV had engaged in the pullover maneuver which resulted in the pedestrian being dragged an additional 20 feet at 7 mph (11.27 km per hour)," the documents said, using the abbreviation AV for autonomous vehicle.

Kong said in a statement that GM's blog posting that it “proactively” shared information with the commission “including the full video" is "inaccurate."

"The full video was shared only in response to a data request more than two weeks after the incident," she said.

"Cruise is committed to rebuilding trust with our regulators and will respond in a timely manner to the CPUC," the company said in a statement.

California barred Cruise self-driving vehicles from public roads following the accident.

Cruise's troubles are also a setback for an industry dependent on public trust and the cooperation of regulators. The company had in recent months touted ambitious plans to expand to more cities, offering fully autonomous taxi rides.

GM CEO Mary Barra said last week that the automaker will sharply cut spending on the unit next year. Cruise has lost more than $8 billion since 2017, including $728 million in the third quarter of this year.

GM has hired an outside law firm to conduct a review of Cruise management's handling of the Oct. 2 incident and the response to regulators. Cruise has also said it is planning to re-launch in one unspecified city before expanding to others.

(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin and David Shepardson; Editing by Richard Chang)