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Cruise , the GM self - drive subsidiary , said Thursday that Union prosecutors and securities regulators have opened investigation into the October 2 incident that left a pedestrian stuck under and then dragged by one of its robotaxis .
The probes by the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission , whichwere revealedas part of aninternal reportconducted by law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and released Thursday , conjoin legion other investigations at nearly every spirit level of government , including the California Department of Motor Vehicles , the California Public Utilities Commission and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration .
The October 2 incident — and the decisions by Cruise leadership in the day follow — has put the companionship ’s future at risk , force GM toslash costsand take greater control of the troubled company . Cruiselost the permitsit necessitate to operate commercially in the United States Department of State of California and has sincegrounded its fleetelsewhere . Its co - founder and CEO Kyle Vogt step down and about 24 % of its workforce had been laid off in the wake of the case .
Problems with Cruise beganalmost immediatelyafter the caller receive the last remaining permit required to work its robotaxi service commercially throughout San Francisco . But it was the October 2 incident , and the decisions and communication straight off follow , that sent the party into free fall .
On that day , a pedestrian crossing a street in San Francisco was initially strike by a homo - aim car and bring down in the path of a Cruise robotaxi and prevail over . It would n’t be until days by and by that metier and some regulators learned that the stopped up robotaxi then stress to pull over , drag the pedestrian 20 foot . It was that lack of disclosure — along with the robotaxi ’s conclusion to put to death a grave manoeuvre — that escalated Cruise ’s already provisional relationship with regulators .
The California DMV , which regulates the testing and deployment of sovereign vehicles in the land , accused Cruise ofwithholding picture footagefrom its investigating , prompting the office to suspend its permits .
That video recording footage , and whether it was advisedly withhold , was a central interrogative in the review conduct by Quinn Emanuel . The law business firm , which was charter by GM , close that Cruise did n’t intentionally mislead regulator . Instead , a lack of judgement , misstep by leading , an “ us versus them ” relationship with regulators and a fixationon castigate the inaccurate spiritualist narrative that the Cruise AV , not the human - aim Nissan , had caused the accident were all bestow factors to Cruise ’s trouble , according to the 195 - page report .
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“ This short focus led Cruise to convey the information about the Nissan strike - and - run driver having caused the Accident to the media , regulator , and other politics officials , but to omit other important data about the fortuity . Even after receive the Full Video , Cruise did not objurgate the public tale but continue instead to share incomplete facts and TV about the Accident with the media and the public . This behavior has caused both governor and the medium to criminate Cruise of misleading them . ”
Curiously , the Quinn Emanuel report focuses less on the engineering , which have the vehicle to root for over and drag the pedestrian , and more on what pass off after October 2 . At one point , the report card calls the loss of DMV permits a “ proverbial self - inflicted wounding by certain senior Cruise leaders and employees who seem not to have fully appreciated how a regulated business should interact with its regulator . ”
Quinn Emanuel pronounce that by October 3 , more than 100 Cruise employees , let in some senior appendage of its senior leadership , insurance policy , sound , government affairs , and system integrity team were informed prior to their meetings with regulators that the Cruise AV had motivate forward after the initial pedestrian impact and , in doing so , had dragged the pedestrian for approximately 20 understructure .
Instead of explicitly describing to regulator what happened , Cruise employees just dally the full video in these meetings , including legion clock time when net connectivity may have handicap or prevented them from seeing it in its entirety .
“ Because Cruise adopted that plan of attack , it did not verbally indicate out these fact . This is because Cruise assumed that by fiddle the Full Video of the Accident for its regulator and other government officials , they would take question and Cruise would provide further information about the pullover maneuver and footer dragging , ” the news report read .
The write up also found that some of the most critical loss leader at Cruise , including Vogt , Chief Legal Officer Jeff Bleich and COO Gil West appeared to be playing catch up after the DMV suspended the permits .
In Slack message reviewed by Quinn Emanuel and highlighted in the report , Vogt express frustration about the DMV Suspension Order , writing “ I am very much struggling with the fact that our tabun squad did not volunteer the information about the subaltern movement with the DMV , and that during the handling of the event I call up getting inconsistent reports as to what was shared . At some point a forged judgement call must have been made , and I need to know how that happened . ”
The report observe that the Slack message between Bleich , West and Vogt “ take that the three senior leaders of the fellowship — the CEO , CLO , and COO — were not actively engage in the regulative response for the worst accident in Cruise ’s history . Instead , they were seek to set up together what take place after the fact . ”
