Cruise probe blames poor internet, bad leadership, ‘flawed’ decisions for driverless car woes

The embattled autonomous vehicle company Cruise, which remains off the road amid allegations it attempted to mislead regulators about its safety record, is now blaming poor “internet connectivity,” for why the company initially failed to show government investigators the complete surveillance video recorded by one of its driverless vehicles as it dragged a woman 20 feet along a busy roadway in San Francisco last October. Cruise is the driverless car subsidiary of automaker General Motors.

1) Cruise, the autonomous vehicle company that wants to use its tech to ultimately dispatch driverless cars throughout the US, says it didn't purposely mislead regulators about the safety of its vehicles.

Instead, it says bad internet may be to blame.https://t.co/RR2Cs5OnHp
— Bigad Shaban (@BigadShaban) January 26, 2024

Law firm, hired by Cruise, releases "independent review" delving into company's actions after one of its driverless cars dragged a woman 20 feet

The explanation comes as part of a 195-page report released Thursday by the law firm Quinn Emanuel, which was hired by Cruise on Oct. 25 to conduct an “independent review” of the company’s actions in the days, weeks, and months following the Oct. 2 accident, in which a hit-and-run-driver tossed a pedestrian directly into the path of a Cruise driverless car, which then ran over the woman and came to a complete stop. In the days following the crash, however, Cruise failed to disclose to the public, media, and regulators that after coming to a stop, its driverless car soon began to move forward, again, in an attempt to pull over. In doing so, the vehicle failed to recognize the woman trapped underneath the vehicle and dragged her approximately 20 feet.

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The reasons for Cruise’s failings in this instance are numerous: poor leadership, mistakes in judgment, lack of coordination, and an ‘us versus them’ mentality with regulators, and a fundamental misapprehension of Cruise’s obligations of accountability and transparency to the government and the public.
Newly released review of Cruise's actions authored by law firm Quinn Emanuel

“The reasons for Cruise’s failings in this instance are numerous: poor leadership, mistakes in judgment, lack of coordination, and an ‘us versus them’ mentality with regulators, and a fundamental misapprehension of Cruise’s obligations of accountability and transparency to the government and the public,” the report notes. “Cruise must take decisive steps to address these issues in order to restore trust and credibility.”

California regulators maintain Cruise tried misleading investigators

Regulators with the DMV maintain Cruise attempted to mislead government investigators during an Oct. 3 meeting by failing to show the entirety of the vehicle’s surveillance video, instead cutting it off just before the Cruise vehicle attempted its pull-over maneuver, dragging the pedestrian. On the same day, Cruise also showed the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit what appeared to be the same portion of the video, which also ended just after the Cruise car initially ran over the woman and came to a complete stop – failing to show the moments that followed of the Cruise vehicle starting up again in an attempt to pull over.

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While Cruise later admitted to showing NBC Bay Area and other media outlets only the shorter portion of the video, it repeatedly denied withholding the full video from state regulators. In fact, a spokesperson for Cruise had previously said the entire clip of the accident, including the portion showing the Cruise car dragging the pedestrian, was shown to DMV officials several times on Oct. 3.

While the newly released report notes it found no evidence "Cruise leadership or employees sought to intentionally mislead or hide from regulators the details of the October 2 accident," the analysis does fault Cruise officials for not publicly setting the record straight sooner on what really happened.

“Even after obtaining the full video, Cruise did not correct the public narrative but continued instead to share incomplete facts and video about the accident with the media and the public,” the report found. “This conduct has caused both regulators and the media to accuse Cruise of misleading them.”

The DMV has repeatedly maintained its investigators were not initially shown the full video, nor were they told about the pull-over maneuver that led to the pedestrian being dragged. In late October, the DMV accused Cruise of posing “an unreasonable risk to public safety,” and suspended the company’s driverless car permits, forcing the vehicles off the road in California. Two days later, Cruise voluntarily pulled its remaining driverless fleets in Arizona and Texas, effectively halting its driverless car service indefinitely.

#Breaking
Cruise is taking all its driverless cars off the road, nationwide, to examine its “processes, systems, & tools” & “reflect” on how to earn back public trust.

2 days ago, CA suspended Cruise’s driverless permits amid safety concerns & allegations it misled regulators.
— Bigad Shaban (@BigadShaban) October 27, 2023

The California Public Utilities Commission, which shares regulatory responsibilities with the DMV over autonomous vehicles, has made similar claims against Cruise, accusing the company of “misleading” the commission “into thinking that the original video shown and commented on accurately memorialized the full extent of the incident.” The CPUC has summoned Cruise officials to appear at a government hearing in San Francisco next month, where the company could face more than $1.5 million in fines. In a recent filing, however, Cruise has argued it should only have to pay $75,000.

According to Cruise, the company is actively being investigated by a number of government agencies in response to the Oct. 2 incident, including the California DMV, CPUC, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. Department of Justice, and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Bad internet connection blamed for why regulators didn't see "full" video

In the latest analysis paid for by Cruise, investigators point to a possible poor internet connection as to why regulators from different agencies -- during different meetings -- may have been unable to view the entire video.

“Internet connectivity issues likely precluded or hampered [regulators] from seeing the full video clearly and fully,” noted the Quinn Emanuel report, which also took Cruise officials to task for not explicitly mentioning to regulators what exactly was captured on the video. “Cruise failed to augment the full video by affirmatively pointing out the pullover maneuver and dragging of the pedestrian.”

By Oct. 3, just one day after the accident, “more than 100 Cruise employees – including certain members of Cruise’s senior leadership, legal, government affairs, and systems integrity teams who briefed government officials” were all aware that the driverless car had inadvertently dragged the pedestrian, according to the Quinn Emanuel report. However, during meetings that day with the San Francisco Mayor’s Office, NHTSA, DMV, and other government officials, Cruise officials never actually mentioned it and instead attempted to let the “video speak for itself.”

The law firm's review of the incident described Cruise's decision to stay mum on the matter as "fundamentally flawed."

“Because Cruise adopted that approach, it did not verbally point out these facts,” the report noted. “This is because Cruise assumed that by playing the full video of the accident for its regulators and other government officials, they would ask questions and Cruise would provide further information about the pullover maneuver and pedestrian dragging.”

In a statement, Cruise said it’s “deficient response” to the Oct. 2 incident is why nine top leaders “departed” the company last month, which followed the resignation of Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt just a few weeks prior.

“We know our license to operate must be earned and is ultimately granted by regulators and the communities we serve,” Cruise said in a statement. “We are focused on advancing our technology and earning back public trust.”

Cruise has since created a new Chief Safety Officer position and while it has appointed an interim leader, the company said it is currently searching for a permanent hire. The newly released report also outlines several additional recommendations, including changes to training, leadership, and company protocols, all of which Cruise says it will work to implement.

Trust is a huge issue. The concerns raised by this report undermine that trust in ways that go beyond the accident itself, and are likely to make regulators more wary in their views of self-driving cars overall.
Irina Raicu, Director of the Internet Ethics Program at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University

Irina Raicu is the Director of the Internet Ethics Program at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University.

“For technology companies that introduce novel products and deploy them in public spaces, impacting all of us – whether we chose to use those products or not – trust is a huge issue,” said Irina Raicu, an attorney and director of the Internet Ethics Program at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University. “The concerns raised by this report undermine that trust in ways that go beyond the accident itself, and are likely to make regulators more wary in their views of self-driving cars overall.”