Cruise LLC, the self-driving unit General Motors, openly admitted at having submitted a false report in order to influence the outcome of a federal investigation and will pay a fine of $500,000.
The Department of Justice revealed on Thursday that both parties have agreed to go for a deferred prosecution agreement in order to avoid criminal prosecution.
It is alleged that Cruise falsified records to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
The agreement said Cruise did it to impede, obstruct or influence the investigation of a crash involving one of Cruise's autonomous vehicles.
The issue was related to a crash that occurred in San Francisco on Oct. 2, 2023, when a Cruise robotaxi ran over a woman who had been thrown into the autonomous vehicle's path by a human-driven vehicle.
Though the robotaxi stopped after running over the pedestrian, the vehicle's detection system failed to detect the presence of a pedestrian underneath it.
The Cruise vehicle then attempted to pull over to the side of the road with the woman underneath it, dragging the woman more than 20 feet.
Federal regulations require Cruise to report incidents. The company, however, did not disclose the details involving the crash to the NHTSA.
Martha Boersch, head of the criminal division for the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Francisco noted, "companies with self-driving cars that seek to share our roads and crosswalks must be fully truthful in their reports to their regulators."
The recent three-year agreement between Cruise and the Justice Department provided several conditions that Cruise must comply else it could still be slapped with a criminal prosecution by the U.S. Attorney's office. These conditions include cooperation with investigations by the government, implementation of a safety compliance program, and providing the U.S. Attorney's Office with annual reports.
Cruise President Craig Glidden expressed the company's commitment to the agreement.
"Cruise will comply with the requirements set forth in the agreement, as we continue to move forward under new leadership and with a firm commitment to transparency with our regulators," he said.
In August, the company recalled 1,200 robotaxis over hard breaking issues.
In the same month, Cruise announced that it will offer its autonomous vehicles on Uber by next year.
