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.
If anyone’s curious, it takes GM 2.6 minutes to make $500k of gross income.
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.
