"GM’s Cruise Rethinks Its Robotaxi Strategy After Admitting a Software Fault in Gruesome Crash", 9 November 2023

...General Motors acquired three-year-old Cruise for a reported $1 billion in hopes the straitlaced Detroit automaker could coopt the self-driving technology tipped to disrupt the auto industry...

...GM’s financial reports show it losing $​​8.2 billion on Cruise since the start of 2017, and it has sunk at least $1.9 billion into the company this year. But last month, California regulators yanked its permits to operate self-driving vehicles in San Francisco, amidst allegations the company failed to disclose important details about a serious collision in which a pedestrian was trapped under a robot taxi...

...This week revealed new details of its technology’s failings during the San Francisco collision on October 2. On that night, a pedestrian was struck by a human-driven car and thrown into the path of a driverless Cruise vehicle that swerved but still hit the woman. Cruise said Wednesday that the car’s software then “inaccurately characterized” the collision as a side impact, not a front strike, and so automatically attempted to pull out of traffic, a maneuver that dragged her 20 feet along the ground. Cruise recalled all 950 driverless vehicles in its fleet, acknowledging that their software creates a safety risk, and says it will only resume driverless operations after updating it. (The person behind the wheel of the car that initially hit the woman has not been caught.)..

...Cruise’s initial response to the October crash suggested it was a freak incident—one unavoidable by even a human driver...This week’s recall and Cruise’s other recent actions seem to show the company conceding the possibility of systemic flaws in its strategy, technology, and communications with a nervous public...

...“We believe strongly in Cruise’s mission and the transformative technology it is developing,” GM spokesperson Aimee Ridella said in a statement. “Safety has to be our top priority, and we fully support the actions that Cruise leadership is taking to ensure that it is putting safety first and building trust and credibility.”..