By Michael Elkins
The National Highway Traffic and Safety Association has opened a probe into General Motors' (NYSE:GM) Cruise robotaxi company to investigate reports that the autonomous vehicles may brake too quickly or unexpectedly stop, potentially stranding passengers.
The agency also has multiple reports of the Cruise robotaxis without human safety drivers becoming immobilized in San Francisco traffic. The reports of immobilized vehicles came from discussions with Cruise, media reports and local authorities, NHTSA said in an investigation document posted Friday on its website.
There have been two reports of injuries related to the hard braking, including a bicyclist seriously hurt last March, according to the NHTSA crash database.
The probe covers an estimated 242 Cruise autonomous vehicles and could bring a recall. “With this data, NHTSA can respond to safety concerns involving these technologies through further investigation and enforcement,” the agency said in a statement.
Cruise spokesman Drew Pusateri said the company is cooperating in the probe, and that its vehicles have driven nearly 700,000 autonomous miles in a complex city with no life-threatening injuries or deaths.
“This is against the backdrop of over 40,000 deaths each year on American roads,” he wrote. “There's always a balance between healthy regulatory scrutiny and the innovation we desperately need to save lives."
“If needed, Cruise personnel are physically dispatched to retrieve the vehicle as quickly as possible,” Pusateri wrote. Such stoppages are rare and have not caused any crashes, he wrote.
GM acquired a majority stake in Cruise when it was a startup in 2016. The company invested to take 80% stake in the company last May.
Shares of GM are down 4.43% in mid-day trading on Friday.