Anadolu Agency / Contributor via Getty
Moveable explores the future of transportation, infrastructure, energy, and cities.
Cruise, one of two autonomous vehicle companies offering fully driverless taxi rides in the U.S., has had its license revoked by the California Department of Motor Vehicles because it withheld video footage from an ongoing investigation and “the manufacturer’s vehicles are not safe for the public’s operation,” the DMV said in a statement.
In August, California regulators approved an expansion of Cruise’s driverless taxi service, which is owned by GM, so it could operate 24/7, despite the opposition from San Francisco police and fire authorities as well as an activist group that demonstrated the vehicles Cruise operates can be disabled for extended periods by placing a cone on its hood. Earlier this month, a pedestrian was seriously injured after a driver hit them with a car and a Cruise car then trapped them underneath it, which spurred a federal investigation that is also examining the Cruise vehicle’s behavior towards pedestrians more generally based on other incidents.
In the Order of Suspension, the California DMV said that the Cruise vehicle initially came to a hard stop and ran over the pedestrian. After coming to a complete stop, it then attempted to do a “pullover maneuver while the pedestrian was underneath the vehicle.” The car crawled along at 7 mph for about 20 feet, then came to a final stop. The pedestrian remained under the car the whole time.
The day after the incident, DMV representatives met with Cruise to “discuss the incident.” During t
