The Pedestrian-Dragged Under the Influence of an Autonomous Vehicle: A Technical Investigation of a Side-Impact Collision

A number of executives have resigned in the wake of the incident, including co-founders Kyle Vogt and Dan Kan. The company paused its driverless operations nationwide, appointed a new chief safety officer, and recalled all 950 of its vehicles. As GM pulls back on funding, nearly a quarter of Cruise employees have been laid off.

The law firm did not conclude that Cruise intentionally misled regulators. The video that Cruise was attempting to play for regulators showed the pedestrian being dragged, however internet problems caused the video to freeze. Cruise employees remained silent and failed to make sure that the regulators comprehend what they couldn’t see.

Another third-party report on the crash released by Cruise today, by the engineering consulting firm Exponent, found that technical issues contributed to the autonomous vehicle’s dangerous pullover maneuver. The self- driving car pulled over and dragged the woman underneath as it classified the crash as a side-impact collision because it had correctly detected, perceived and tracked the pedestrians and human driven car. Cruise said technical issues were corrected after it recalled its software.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and other government officials had a meeting with Cruise employees about the pedestrian-dragging incident. But Cruise said nothing about the pedestrian being dragged, instead “letting the video speak for itself.” A bad internet connection prevented that from happening.

The company that makes the self-driving car, Cruise, is being investigated for a crash that seriously injured a pedestrian.

The company said on Thursday that it was being investigated by at least four agencies and two stock exchanges. Cruise said it is “fully cooperating” with the regulatory and enforcement agencies that have opened the investigations.