Cruise Pedestrian Dragging Mishap - Case Study

On October 2, 2023, a Cruise robotaxi dragged a woman 20 feet underneath the vehicle in San Francisco. The circumstances of the mishap and everything else are complex. But the robotaxi industry was profoundly shaken. This page organizes some materials to support case studies of this mishap.

• Cruise external investigation report: Quin Emanuel Trial Lawyers, REPORT TO THE BOARDS OF DIRECTORS OF CRUISE LLC, GM CRUISE HOLDINGS LLC, AND GENERAL MOTORS HOLDINGS LLC REGARDING THE OCTOBER 2, 2023 ACCIDENT IN SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 24, 2024.
  • Cruise | archive.org | local
• Philip Koopman's detailed analysis:
  • Scholarly description of mishap: Anatomy of a Robotaxi Crash: Lessons from the Cruise Pedestrian Dragging Mishap, Safecomp 2024.
    • Official version (paywall) | Arxiv extended preprint | Self-hosted extended preprint
  • Safecomp 2024 conference talk:
    • Conference talk video: YouTube | archive.org | local (178 MB)
    • Talk slides
  • Shorter summary: Lessons from the Cruise Robotaxi Pedestrian Dragging Mishap, IEEE Reliability Magazine, Aug. 2024.
    • Official version (paywall) | Preprint | Self-hosted preprint
• Missy Cummings analysis: A Root Cause Analysis of a Self- Driving Car Dragging a Pedestrian, IEEE Computer, Nov. 2024
  • Official version (open access)
• Long-form journalism with interviews: J. Mathews, "In a single night, self-driving startup Cruise went from sizzling startup to cautionary tale. Here’s what really happened—and how GM is scrambling to save its $10B bet," Fortune, May 16, 2024.