G.M. Reaches $1.5 Million Fine After Self-Driving Taxi Accident

Business|Cruise, G.M.’s Self-Driving Unit, Will Pay $1.5 Million Federal Fine

Cruise, the autonomous driving unit of General Motors, has agreed to pay a $1.5 million penalty for failing to properly report an accident in which one of its self-driving taxis severely injured a pedestrian last year, a federal regulator said on Monday.

Cruise will also face increased oversight of its activities as it restarts testing of its technology in Phoenix, Houston and Dallas, the regulator, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said.

G.M.’s efforts to compete in autonomous driving with Waymo — a subsidiary of Alphabet, the parent company of Google — suffered a significant setback a year ago when a Cruise car in San Francisco struck a woman who had been knocked into its path by another vehicle. After first stopping, the Cruise vehicle started moving and dragged the woman 20 feet. She survived but was badly injured.

Cruise reported the accident to the federal safety agency as required, according to the consent order, but did not disclose until a month later that its vehicle had dragged the pedestrian.

Cruise suspended its taxi service after the accident and replaced its top management. It is the latest example of the many obstacles that companies have encountered as they try to develop cars capable of steering and navigating without human intervention.

Next week, Tesla is scheduled to present a prototype for a self-driving taxi, but analysts are skeptical that the company, led by Elon Musk, has perfected the technology or will be able to make money from it.

Waymo offers driverless rides in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix. The company is also testing its service with human drivers in Austin, Texas.

Zoox, a subsidiary of Amazon, is also testing a self-driving taxi service that uses a car with no steering wheel or driver’s seat, though humans monitor the vehicles from a remote command center.

Cruise will face tighter scrutiny as it slowly resumes operations. As part of the consent order, Cruise and G.M. representatives must meet regularly with federal officials and file reports on software updates and any traffic or safety issues.

Cruise has resumed autonomous driving operations in Phoenix and Dallas, but with humans at the wheel who can intervene when needed. The company plans to gradually expand its service and testing to other cities.

G.M. said in a statement that it “fully supports the meaningful changes Cruise has made to uplevel safety protocols, bring in new leaders and foster deeper regulatory relationships with the goal of deploying autonomous vehicles to make roads safer.”

Steve Kenner, Cruise’s chief safety officer, said in a statement that the agreement “is a step forward in a new chapter for Cruise.”