California Suspends GM’s Cruise Robotaxis Citing Safety Risks

The state DMV said the company had “misrepresented” the safety of the technology deployed in the driverless taxis.

GM Cruise Driverless Taxi

Iulian Dnistran

By: Iulian Dnistran

Oct 25, 2023 at 2:09am ET

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The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) ordered Cruise, General Motors’ self-driving taxi business, to remove all of its robotaxis from state roads effective immediately, according to Reuters.

The DMV said that the GM-backed company had misrepresented the technology’s safety and suspended Cruise’s autonomous vehicle (AV) deployment and driverless testing permit, forcing it to use safety drivers if it wanted to continue development on state roads.

California’s state agency’s decision comes after a woman was critically injured at the beginning of the month when she was hit by a human-driven car and was then thrown in front of a Cruise-operated Chevrolet Bolt EV robotaxi that ran over her before stopping.

Gallery: GM Cruise Driverless Taxi

GM Cruise Driverless Taxi

The incident prompted the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to open an investigation into GM’s self-driving taxi operation to find out if the company has taken enough safety measures to protect pedestrians.

A prior incident, involving a Cruise robotaxi and a fire truck that had its siren and red lights on, led to the California DMV requesting a 50 percent cut in Cruise’s on-road fleet. Now, this latest decision suspends all driverless activities for the GM entity.

"Based upon the performance of the vehicles, the department determines the manufacturer's vehicles are not safe for the public's operation," the DMV said in a statement, citing "an unreasonable risk to public safety."

At the same time, Cruise issued a statement and said that it was reviewing the October 2 incident that led to the hospitalization of a woman after she was struck by a hit-and-run driver.

"We will be pausing operations of our driverless AVs in San Francisco. Ultimately, we develop and deploy autonomous vehicles in an effort to save lives," the company wrote.

In its order, the California DMV said that Cruise had not initially disclosed all video footage of the accident and added that “Cruise’s vehicles may lack the ability to respond in a safe and appropriate manner during incidents involving a pedestrian.”

Cruise also offers service during the night in some parts of Houston and Austin in Texas, and in Phoenix, Arizona.

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This summer, GM CEO Mary Barra said that the robotaxi business had the potential to generate as much as $50 billion in revenue per year by 2030, but it’s unclear how this will pan out, considering this latest development and the fact that Cruise has been bleeding money for a long time.

During yesterday’s GM earnings call, the automotive giant reported that it had lost $723 million on Cruise during the previous quarter, with total losses amounting to roughly $5 billion since the company started its operations in 2018.