NHTSA Launches Safety Investigation Into GM's Cruise

General Motors’ Cruise may be one of the first companies in the world to field driverless vehicles as part of a commercial endeavor. But this doesn’t appear to have endeared the brand to everyday people. The business appears to be loathed by San Franciscan residents and emergency response crews, who have only gotten angrier since state regulators allowed the business to expand operations. 

Sustained reports of mishaps and injuries involving the vehicles has encouraged the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to launch a preliminary investigation into the company — which may also explain why Cruise just issued a press release explaining how it’s going to remedy all of the above. 

According to Reuters, the NHTSA has confirmed that its Office of Defects Investigation has received two reports from Cruise of incidents where pedestrians were injured and has subsequently identified two more incidents by watching videos posted to public websites.

From Reuters: 

NHTSA said the reports include Cruise autonomous vehicles "encroaching on pedestrians present in or entering roadways, including pedestrian crosswalks, in the proximity of the intended path of the vehicles."

NHTSA's preliminary evaluation covers about 594 vehicles and is the first step before the agency [seeks] to force a recall.

"This could increase the risk of a collision with a pedestrian, which may result in severe injury or death," the agency added.

GM is spending nearly $2 billion a year on Cruise but insists the business represents a "giant growth opportunity." In June, GM CEO Mary Barra reiterated a forecast that Cruise could generate $50 billion a year in annual revenue by 2030.

A spokesperson for Cruise said the company communicates regularly with NHTSA and "has consistently cooperated with each of NHTSA's requests for information."

But the real issue is whether the probe has any teeth. Companies vying to put autonomous test vehicles onto public roads have been given an incredible amount of leeway by state and federal regulators since they began appearing over a decade ago. Initially, it was the technology that kept them from sharing space with the rest of us. But that gave way around 2015, leading to numerous Congressional regulatory programs that seemed hell-bent on getting more AVs on public roads (see: A Vision for Safety). While House and Senate members never seemed to have a clue about how the vehicles functioned, most appeared convinced by industry lobbyists that the advancement of self-driving vehicles would lead to a future where traffic accidents no longer existed. 

More recently, we’ve seen the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) board effectively going against San Francisco to ensure the expansion of Cruise and Waymo. Exasperated by public complaints and hectic encounters, San Francisco’s local government no longer seems interested in allowing autonomous vehicles to operate on public roads. The city’s fire department has cited dozens of interactions over the last twelve months where self-driving cars stalled emergency response vehicles or needed to be rescued after getting themselves stuck in traffic. Meanwhile, residents are tired of being inconvenienced by self-driving cars and have grown outraged after learning the local police were using the vehicles’ camera arrays as surveillance systems. 

There seems to be a stark divide between local and state (or federal) governments on how to handle AVs. One wonders how this will impact the NHTSA’s investigation, especially considering how companies like Cruise are already supposed to have a steady stream of communication with all of the above. 

It’s worth noting that the NHTSA had opened a separate safety inquiry into Cruise vehicles last December after a couple of rear-end crashes. The probe stemmed from concerns that the AVs were braking harder than seemed necessary and occasionally became immobilized in traffic. The agency was also supposed to be deciding whether or not the company could deploy additional vehicles without physical controls for human drivers it doesn’t use anyway. However, no final decision appears to have been made. 

Meanwhile, the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has been looking into Cruise since August after one of its AVs ended up striking an emergency response vehicle. That was further spurred on by public complaints and additional incidents, ending with the DMV asking the brand to scale back how many cars it has deployed in San Francisco. Cruise appeared to have complied with the request, though its ultimate goal remains the same — perpetual expansion to take charge of a business segment GM believes will be worth tens of billions annually in the coming years. 

Additionally, there has been some grumbling that some of the negative media attention being given to Cruise has been spurred on by corporate warfare. Cruise’s main rival is Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet which likewise happens to own Google. Interestingly, Waymo doesn’t seem to be getting the same negative attention in San Francisco that Cruise has despite the former having been chided for similar antics in and around Phoenix, Arizona. 

That may indeed be due to some kind of media shenanigans. But Cruise has a slightly larger fleet in California while Waymo’s numbers are strongest in Phoenix. Backlash against the Alphabet-owned brand was likewise already present in Arizona while both companies were ramping up operations in California. Waymo may have already learned from its mistakes or is simply keeping its head down in California while its main rival is drowning in a deluge of bad press. 

Regardless of either scenario, local leadership in San Francisco doesn’t seem overly thrilled with either brand and appears committed to blocking any future AV expansions. Residents have likewise taken it upon themselves to disable self-driving vehicles testing on public roads in protest, though the focus presently appears to be directed at Cruise AVs.

[Image: Cruise]

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