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San Francisco Examiner
CPUC judge approves $112,500 settlement with Cruise over SF accident
By Troy_WolvertonCraig Lee/The Examiner,
2024-06-21
In a hearing in February before a CPUC administrative law judge, autonomous-vehicle company Cruise offered to resolve allegations it covered up an accident involving one of its self-driving cars, like the one pictured, and a San Francisco pedestrian. Craig Lee/The Examiner
The California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday ordered Cruise to pay $112,500 to settle and end the agency’s inquiry into an accident last fall in which one of the company’s self-driving cars hit and dragged a pedestrian in San Francisco.
Over The City's objection, CPUC Administrative Law Judge Robert Mason III approved Cruise’s settlement offer. The only change is that the company will pay more than the $75,000 it previously offered. The amount Cruise will have to pay is the maximum allowed by state law and what the company's president verbally agreed to at a February hearing , he said.
Mason rejected the call by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency that CPUC conduct its own investigation into the accident, rather than relying on a report about it from San Francisco law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan that was commissioned by the company.
Going down that route would likely drag out the case for no good reason, Mason said in his ruling approving the settlement. Cruise has already admitted that it didn’t immediately give a full accounting of the accident in the immediate aftermath of the incident and has committed to more transparency in the future, he said.
“Approval of the Settlement Agreement terms will bring this dispute to a close, which will permit Commission staff to devote their resources to Cruise’s regulatory oversight rather than engage in potentially protracted litigation,” Mason said in his ruling.
City officials declined to comment on the decision.
Cruise was “gratified” by Mason's ruling, spokeswoman Hannah Lindow said in an emailed statement.
“Over the past several months, we have taken important steps to improve our leadership, processes and culture,” Lindow said. “As we continue to make forward progress, we are committed to working collaboratively with the Commission in service of our shared goals to provide greater transparency and public safety to our communities.”
Even so, the company didn’t give a full accounting of the incident to the CPUC — one of its two primary regulators — until Oct. 18, according to Mason’s decision.
If and when it begins operating in California again, Cruise will be required to notify the commission of any collisions in the state at the same time it notifies the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, as part of the settlement. For any accident that results in property damage, injury or death, the company will be required under the settlement to provide the commission with the same report it gives to DMV.
Additionally, the company will have to report monthly to the CPUC on any incidents in which one of its representatives has to retrieve a vehicle whose self-driving feature was turned off that was blocking a bike, car or transit lane or was within 200 feet of a railroad crossing.
“Cruise’s agreement to proactively provide this information relieves [CPUC] staff from the need to continually serve data requests to pinpoint any follow up inquiries regarding Cruise’s AV operations to ensure that Cruise is operating in a manner that best promotes transparency and public safety,” Mason wrote in his order.
In its objection to Cruise’s settlement offer, the SFMTA argued that such reporting was inadequate. It was unclear whether the company or CPUC will make Cruise’s reports public, City Attorney David Chiu noted in a February letter to the commission on behalf of the SFMTA. Also, under the settlement Cruise proposed and which Mason has now accepted, the company is not compelled to hand over either video or audio data to the commission, Chiu said in the letter.
“Any settlement agreement should address the standards for making complete and accurate video and audio available to the Commission,” Chiu wrote.
Mason’s decision to accept the settlement agreement comes amid growing scrutiny of autonomous vehicles. The NHTSA has launched inquiries into GM-owned Cruise, Alphabet-owned Waymo and Amazon-owned Zoox in the wake of collisions, pedestrian injuries, and reportedly erratic and unsafe driving.
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