According to the Zhitong Finance APP, the USA Department of Justice stated that general motors (GM.US) subsidiary Cruise admitted on Thursday to submitting a false report to influence a federal investigation and will pay a criminal fine of $0.5 million as part of a deferred prosecution agreement.

The Department of Justice stated that Cruise did not disclose key details of an October 2023 crash incident to the USA National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). In this incident, a self-driving taxi collided with a pedestrian who had been struck by another vehicle and dragged her for 20 feet (6.1 meters).

Martha Boersh, head of the criminal division of the San Francisco federal prosecutor's office, stated, "Companies that own self-driving cars must be completely truthful in the reports submitted to regulators if they want to share our roads and sidewalks."

Under this three-year agreement, Cruise must cooperate with government investigations, implement a safety compliance program, and provide annual reports to the USA Attorney's Office. If Cruise fails to comply with the regulations in the next three years, the Attorney's Office can prosecute his charges.

In a statement, Cruise president Craig Glidden said, "Cruise will comply with the requirements in the agreement, and we will move forward under new leadership, firmly committed to maintaining transparency with regulators."

In response to the incident and the subsequent investigation, Cruise's CEO and co-founder resigned, the company cut a quarter of its staff, and nine executives, including the chief operating officer and chief legal and policy officer, were fired.

In September, Cruise agreed to pay a fine of $1.5 million to resolve the NHTSA investigation. Cruise must submit a corrective action plan to the NHTSA outlining how it will improve reporting of serious incidents and will face stricter reporting requirements for at least two years.

The NHTSA is still investigating whether Cruise's self-driving taxis took adequate precautions to protect pedestrians. In August of this year, Cruise recalled 1,200 self-driving taxis due to braking issues.

The company is also facing an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission in the usa.

Cruise has restarted supervised self-driving tests in three cities in the usa but has abandoned the self-driving Origin cars. The company stated in August that it will begin offering self-driving cars on the ride-hailing platform uber technologies starting next year.