The California Department of Motor Vehicles suspended Cruise’s autonomous vehicle deployment and driverless permits Tuesday morning.
The DMV cited “an unreasonable risk to public safety” as being behind the closure.
The DMV said its autonomous vehicle regulations “provide a framework to facilitate the safe testing and deployment” of autonomous vehicle technology on California’s public roads. “When there is an unreasonable risk to public safety, the DMV can immediately suspend or revoke permits,” the DMV said.
According to DMV, they notified Cruise of the suspension on Tuesday and that the suspension was effective immediately.
The agency said it had provided Cruise with the steps needed to reapply to reinstate its suspended permits.
The DMV said it would not approve the reinstatement until the company “has fulfilled the requirements to the department’s satisfaction.”
There have been several incidents of Cruise driverless vehicles malfunctioning on San Francisco streets.
The DMV’s official order of suspension cited an October 2 incident where a pedestrian was hit by another vehicle and fell into the path of a Cruise.
The AV collided with and ran over the pedestrian before trying to perform a pullover maneuver with the pedestrian underneath the vehicle. During a subsequent meeting with Cruise reps on Oct. 3, the company did not disclose the vehicle’s attempting to perform a pullover maneuver, the DMV said.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, San Francisco Supervisor Matt Dorsey accused Cruise of “selective disclosure of video evidence” related to the Oct. 2 crash. “It showed that its initial reaction to a gravely serious public safety incident was to treat it as a PR problem — and that’s not okay,” Dorsey said.
The DMV said the suspension does not impact Cruise’s permit for testing with a safety driver.
