Autonomous taxi company pays woman millions after she was dragged across San Francisco street

A General Motors autonomous car company has settled a lawsuit for millions with a woman who was hit by one of its self-driving taxis and dragged along a San Francisco street last year.

The woman, whose identity has not been revealed, was struck by a human hit-and-run driver and propelled into the path of a Cruise robo-taxi. In a statement posted to X, the company said the vehicle detected a collision and attempted to pull over to avoid more safety issues.

As the car tried to pull over, it continued for about 20 feet before coming to a stop with the pedestrian pinned to the bottom of the car. The woman sustained “traumatic injuries” and was taken to the hospital for treatment.

Now, the company is set to pay the woman between $8 to $12m in a settlement first reported by Fortune and Bloomberg.

A representative for Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital told Fortune that the woman had been discharged but declined to state additional information about her condition.

Cruise stopped its taxi service in San Francisco following the crash after regulators found the company had not been forthcoming with information. Later, the company pulled all of its self-driving taxis in the US off the market.

It is now starting to reintroduce them with human drivers that can take over in case of an emergency. The company will start testing out the cars in Phoenix before moving to other Arizona cities. Cruise is in the process of getting its permit reinstated in California, where the crash happened. The application is still under review.

Cruise was acquired by General Motors in 2016 and has since reported $9.2bn in losses. Following the incident, General Motors cut Cruise’s annual budget by $1 billion and replaced the company’s management team.