Woman Dragged By GM's Cruise Robotaxi Gets Over $8 Mln Settlement

(RTTNews) - In a disturbing incident that took place in October, a Cruise robotaxi, an autonomous vehicle developed by General Motors'(GM) subsidiary, Cruise, was involved in a collision with a pedestrian in San Francisco.

Fortune reported that Cruise compensated the victim with an amount ranging between $8 million and $12 million for the injuries sustained during this distressing incident.

The collision resulted in the pedestrian being dragged over 20 feet by the self-driving vehicle. The incident occurred in downtown San Francisco and left the victim with life-threatening injuries. Although the victim's identity has not been disclosed, it is known that she was initially in critical condition and was later discharged from Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital.

The aftermath of the accident saw significant changes within Cruise, including the resignation of the CEO and the suspension of all testing activities across the United States. In response to the incident, General Motors reduced Cruise's annual budget by $1 billion and made substantial alterations to its management team. Financial reports show that since General Motors' acquisition in 2016, the robotaxi firm has suffered losses exceeding $9 billion.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles revealed that Cruise failed to provide complete footage of a previous incident on October 2nd, where a human driver struck a woman and then dragged by a robotaxi in downtown San Francisco. As a result, the DMV revoked Cruise's permits for driverless taxi operations.

Currently, the company is working towards reinstating its license to transport passengers in San Francisco autonomously and has plans to resume operations in Phoenix shortly. Cruise has recently resumed vehicle testing, albeit with human drivers in control.