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GM’s Cruise Robotaxi Services Face Fines Due To Alleged Cover-Up Of An Accident
Last Updated on: November 13th, 2024
The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) of California alleged GM?s Cruise, a San Francisco-based robotaxi service, for covering up the severity of an accident. The accident involved one of the company?s driverless cars. The company faced suspension for operating in California. Now, the company might also face a fine for the alleged cover-up episode.
According to the Associated Press,
?The potential penalty facing GM’s Cruise service could be around $1.5 million [?] The notice orders Cruise to appear at a Feb. 6 evidentiary hearing to determine whether the robotaxi service misled regulators about what happened after one of its driverless cars ran into a pedestrian who had already been struck by another vehicle driven by a human on the evening of Oct. 2 in San Francisco.?
The California Public Utilities Commission authorized Cruise to charge passengers for around-the-clock rides across San Francisco. The robotaxi service received authorizations despite strict objections from city officials, who complained about various malfunctions in driverless cars.
The accident happened on 2 October 2023. After three weeks, the Department of Motor Vehicles of California effectively shut down the services of the company. The regulators suspended the robotaxi services? license to operate in the state.
The suspension of operation in the city was a big blow for the company and also the parent company, General Motors. As a result, the company absorbed huge losses, especially during the development of the driverless taxi service. They also predicted the taxi service would generate $1 billion in revenue by 2025 after the company expands beyond San Francisco.
The CEO of GM stated that the October crash helped the company to focus more on transparency and maintain a better relationship with regulators.
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