What Happened
On October 2, 2023, a pedestrian in San Francisco was struck by a human-driven car and thrown into the path of a Cruise robotaxi, which braked but then executed a pullover maneuver while she was trapped underneath, dragging her about 20 feet at 7 mph. Cruise initially showed regulators only the braking portion of the video; the DMV learned of the dragging from another agency. On October 24 the California DMV immediately suspended Cruise's driverless deployment and testing permits, citing unreasonable risk to public safety.
Impact
Cruise halted driverless operations nationwide, its CEO resigned, and GM ultimately wound down the robotaxi business after roughly $10 billion of investment. The pedestrian was critically injured, and Cruise later paid federal penalties over its incomplete disclosures.
How to Prevent This
- Design post-collision logic to keep the vehicle stationary until humans confirm no one is beneath or near it
- Test autonomous systems against secondary-impact and occluded-pedestrian scenarios, not just first collisions
- Share complete, unedited incident data with regulators immediately — concealment compounds the harm
- Maintain remote human incident response with authority to lock vehicle movement
- Establish internal safety-case reviews that gate expansion of driverless operations