Local government detractors of autonomous vehicle companies doubled down on their critiques on Wednesday, after news that Cruise had reached a massive settlement with a woman its driverless vehicle last year pinned and dragged on a San Francisco street. Bloomberg is reporting that the woman will receive between $8 million and $12 million in a settlement.
The Oct. 2, 2023, incident prompted the California Department of Motors and Vehicles to revoke the companyโs permit to operate its driverless cars after the company allegedly withheld footage of the incident.
The revocation came just two months after the California Public Utilities Commission issued permits to both Cruise and Waymo to start charging fares for robotaxis.
San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin has led what he tabbed โlegislative guerilla warfareโ against autonomous vehicle companies. This morning, he told Mission Local that the reported settlement further makes his case that there should be more regulations on the technology. He also pointed out that it is difficult for local governments to regulate them, since the companies are overseen by the state.
San Mateo County Supervisor David Canepa, who has pushed back against the southward spread of autonomous vehicles into his home county, agreed with Peskin.
โThe technology is not ready for prime time,โ said Canepa. โI want to avoid the chaos, because these companies want to rush to the marketplace.โ
Both politicians said they support State Senator Dave Corteseโs SB 915, which would allow local governments to implement more regulations on autonomous vehicles. Cortese, whose district includes large portions of Silicon Valley, said he embraces this technology but he wants local governmental bodies to regulate these companies, not the DMV.
Cortese added that these companies don’t want to be regulated but want the use city’s infrastructure to experiment their technology without any assurance to the public that this technology is ready and safe to use.
“Besides the value of the claim in millions, the most important issue we have here is that a pedestrian who is completely innocent, who did nothing wrong was was crushed, you know, by one of these vehicles,” said Cortese.
City Attorney David Chiu sued the state Public Utilities Commission in December over its ruling that provided unfettered expansion for autonomous vehicles in San Francisco. โThis incident was a tragedy,โ he wrote to Mission Local, โand a real-world example of why we need more meaningful regulation of AVs to protect public safety.โ
The settlement has not been made public by Cruise and, in an email to Mission Local, a spokesperson for the company said they were not able to confirm it at this point. Instead, they shared a statement that reads, โThe hearts of all Cruise employees continue to be with the pedestrian, and we hope for her continued recovery.โ
The identity of the pedestrian has never been made public. She was hospitalized at San Francisco General Hospital for months following the October incident.
This story was updated on Thursday, May 15, at 4:25 p.m.
So much conjecture in my comment, but if she was hospitalized for months, I am going to assume she has years and years of an array of therapies ahead of her to recover — if she will ever fully recover.
She may need to retrofit her home for her new disability, move to an accessible home, lose her career and future job prospects, and she may have a family and children to help support. She may be young, and have to plan for her new reality literally for the rest of her life.
Furthermore, her hospital and rehab bills will likely be excruciatingly high, especially if she had to stop working and does not have adequate insurance.
Cruise was/is run by GM. Their CEO made 30 million last year? Her settlement is fine. Not even a discussion point here. She will need that money.
I wish there was much more talk about improving and expanding Muni and bike/walk access, and less talk about adding more cars to the road. When rideshare showed up, it was remarkable how few people gave up their cars, when that promise was part of the sell. Not sure autonomous vehicles are going to do much good for quite a while, except to add more congestion.
Great comment from Oceanview Mama.
As someone who lives in the City and no longer owns a car, I have to be vigilant every day as I live my life as a pedestrian. I love SF and I love the lifestyle it affords to people who want to get around by walking and public transit, but I constantly am nearly getting hit by distracted or negligent drivers. I just talked to a driver today who was turning into a parking lot and didn’t even see me about to cross even while I was waving my arms to get their attention. They were apologetic and said they were on her lunch break and not even paying attention. I appreciated their apology, but that kind of driving, while understandable, is also appalling. I’ve been berated by drivers as a pedestrian who told me I should be grateful that they even apologized to me for running stop signs or not paying attention.
I’d love to see a story or even a series on what it’s like to be a pedestrian who lives in the Bay Area, and the challenges and statistics around pedestrian safety. Having grown up in the suburbs, I love the beauty of a city with less parking lots and box stores and more unique character, and one that supports community-building and environmentally-friendly alternatives to getting around, but drivers don’t seem to acknowledge that their desire for more parking and car-friendly streets would detract from what makes SF the city it is.
Everyone seems to forget that this unidentified pedestrian wandered out into the middle of oncoming traffic on 5th and Mission. She is most likely one of San Francisco’s many drug-addicted and/or mentally ill who are allowed to roam the streets in this state. Furthermore, she was hit by a human driver whom the police have not yet managed to catch. The human driver hit this pedestrian hard enough that her body bounced off the hood of his or her car and landed in front of the Cruise vehicle. That the self-driving car dragged this pedestrian is not without dispute. But let’s get real here. Cruise is the only one in this situation with money. Of course, they are going to pay.
It is dangerous to be a pedestrian in this city even when you have your wits about you. It’s sad that San Franciscans are so blinded by their vitriol towards self-driving cars, safety, progress, etc., that journalists, commenters, etc., cannot, at the very least, report on and talk about the whole truth here. We need alternatives like self-driving cars, especially since Muni is unreliable at best.
Please do a story on how dangerous it is to be a pedestrian in this city. I know a few people who’ve been hit, and the payout they received was nowhere near what Cruise paid, even though some had severe, lifelong injuries.