Associated Incidents
SAN FRANCISCO --- General Motors-owned self-driving car company Cruise reached a multimillion-dollar settlement this week with the pedestrian that was dragged by one of its cars in October.
Fortune first reported the settlement, which The Washington Post independently confirmed. Cruise paid the victim between $8 million and $12 million, according to Bloomberg News.
The incident, where a woman was hit by a human-driven car and knocked into the path of the Cruise, which then dragged her for 20 feet before stopping, contributed to the company being blocked from operating in San Francisco and halting its operations around the country for months.
"The hearts of all Cruise employees continue to be with the pedestrian, and we hope for her continued recovery," a spokesperson for Cruise said. The Post has been unable to reach the victim or her lawyer.
Before the crash, Cruise's autonomous cars had been a common sight on the streets of San Francisco. They were open to the public, and many people used an app to hail a ride, just like a passenger might with Uber or Lyft. But the company suspended its operations after its car dragged the woman for 20 feet at roughly 7 miles an hour, after another car flung her into its path. The human driver who initially hit the woman fled the scene. The pedestrian was taken to a hospital in critical condition.
The crash and the questions about what Cruise knew and disclosed to investigators led to a firestorm of scrutiny on the company. Cruise pulled its vehicles off roads countrywide, laid off a quarter of its staff and in November its CEO Kyle Vogt stepped down. The Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating the company, adding to a probe from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
In Cruise's absence, Google's Waymo self-driving cars have become the only robotaxis operating in San Francisco.
But Cruise has begun its comeback. On Monday, the company said it would start driving in Phoenix again, with human safety drivers in the vehicles. And in June, the company's president and chief technology officer Mohamed Elshenawy is slated to speak at a conference on artificial-intelligence quality in San Francisco.