On June 8, 2023, a Chevrolet Cruise self-driving car parked in a parking lot in San Francisco, California.
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Cultural issues, incompetence and poor leadership General Motors’ The cruise autonomous vehicle unit has been the focus of regulatory oversight and cover-up issues that have dogged the company since October, according to the results of a third-party investigation.
The report goes some way to addressing the controversy surrounding Cruise since an Oct. 2 incident in San Francisco in which a pedestrian was towed by a Cruise robotaxi after being struck by another vehicle. 20 feet. The findings, released Thursday in a 105-page report, examined whether Cruise representatives misled investigators or members of the media when discussing the incident.
While the findings point to widespread problems with the company’s culture, the third-party investigation found that the evidence so far “does not establish that Cruise leadership or personnel intentionally deceived or misled regulators” during a briefing the day after the incident. A Summary of the report released by Cruise.
The investigation revealed that several cruise leaders and employees, most of whom are no longer employed by the company, attempted to show video of the incident to regulators but were unable to do so due to contact or “video transmission issues.” The report found that despite sharing the information The intent was there, but Cruise representatives subsequently failed to properly inform some regulators or officials of what had happened.
“The problem is that when the video froze, Cruise employees froze, literally and figuratively, and no one thought to come forward and add details,” a person familiar with the investigation told CNBC.
Some employees also failed to update or correct company statements that omitted such information and attempted to shift blame onto the hit-and-run driver who initially struck the pedestrian.
“This behavior led regulators and the media to accuse Cruise of misleading them,” the report said. “There are many reasons for Cruise’s failure in this incident: poor leadership, poor judgment, lack of coordination, ‘us versus them’ tensions among regulators,” the report said. mindset, and a fundamental misunderstanding of Cruise’s accountability and transparency obligations to government and the public.”
The business litigation firm Quinn Emanuel hired by Cruise conducted a three-month investigation. The firm interviewed 88 Cruise employees and reviewed more than 200,000 documents, including emails, text messages, Slack messages, etc.
The investigation is being led by former federal prosecutor John Potter, a San Francisco partner and co-leader of the corporate investigations group at law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan.The firm is known for representing high-profile celebrities and business owners, including Tesla CEO Musk.
Cruise “accepts” report
Cruise’s fleet of robotaxis has been grounded since the incident. Local and federal governments have launched their own investigations. Cruise’s leadership has been devastated: Its co-founders, including ex Executive Kyle Vogt resigned and nine other leaders were ousted. The joint venture laid off 24% of its employees as well as a group of contractors.
Kyle Vogt shows off the push-button opening of the lateral doors on the new Cruise Origin, which removes all drivers, during the unveiling of the fully autonomous passenger vehicle Cruise Origin in San Francisco, California, on Tuesday, Jan. Mechanical Devices February 21, 2020. (Photo by Carlos Avila Gonzalez/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
Carlos Avila Gonzalez | Hearst Newspapers | Getty Images
Cruise said it “accepts” the report’s conclusions. The San Francisco-based company, in which General Motors owns more than 80% of the stock, said it would act “in accordance with all” recommendations and “fully cooperate” with state and federal agencies investigating the Oct. 2 crash. .
The company said Thursday that investigations or inquiries into the incident include the California DMV, the California Public Utilities Commission, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
“It is fundamentally unfair for Cruise or any other business to believe that video of an incident resulting in serious injury provides regulators with all the necessary information to relieve them of the need to clearly and fully inform regulators of all relevant facts. Flawed approach.”, Quinn Emanuel’s findings stated.
A separate investigation by engineering consulting firm Exponent Inc. found that the Cruise self-driving car involved in the Oct. 2 incident “erroneously classified the collision with a pedestrian as a side impact, causing the self-driving car to perform a subsequent pullover maneuver (toward the side of the road). outermost lane) rather than an emergency stop,” the report said.
Exponent’s results also found semantic mapping errors, consistent with Cruise’s analysis of the incident, according to the company.
Cruise said it updated its software to address the underlying issue File a voluntary recall In partnership with NHTSA in November.
Cruise ships remain in the U.S. A source familiar with operations told CNBC that the company is “committed” to restarting operations, but that the company’s current focus is on rebuilding trust with regulators and addressing other issues outlined in the report.
Before the crash, Cruise was planning to aggressively expand robotaxis outside of its home markets where most of its vehicles operate.
Cruise was acquired by General Motors in 2016 and is considered one of the leaders in autonomous vehicles letter– Backed Waymo, outlasting many other companies that have abandoned the field.
After acquiring Cruise, GM attracted investors including Honda Motor Co., SoftBank Vision Fund and, most recently, Walmart Inc. and Microsoft Corp. However, in 2022, General Motors acquired SoftBank’s stake for US$2.1 billion.
GM Chief Executive and Chairman Mary Barra, who leads Cruise’s board, said last month that the Detroit automaker was “very focused on correcting the situation at Cruise.”
GM said in a statement that Quinn Emanuel’s report “confirms that Cruise’s actions following the Oct. 2 incident were inconsistent with the company’s values and fell well below the reasonable expectations of regulators and the public.”
“We know that in order to successfully move forward, Cruise must fully cooperate with regulators and the communities it serves. We remain committed to Cruise’s vision and know that this transformative technology will ultimately save lives,” the company said Thursday.
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