US auto safety regulator closes probe into GM’s Cruise robotaxis

(Reuters) – The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Thursday it was closing its preliminary evaluation into hard braking and immobilization in 1,194 autonomous ride-hailing vehicles operated by General Motors (NYSE:)’ Cruise unit.

NHTSA said it was closing the evaluation after a review of Cruise’s recall and data analysis, which showed a decrease in hard braking incidents following software updates.

The robotaxi unit earlier this month filed a recall affecting all its vehicles equipped with automated driving systems in the United States.

Cruise still faces investigations by the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission following an accident last October in which one of its robotaxis struck a pedestrian and dragged her 20 feet (six meters).

Cruise along with other self-driving vehicle companies like Alphabet (NASDAQ:)’s Waymo and Amazon (NASDAQ:)’s Zoox have come under heavy regulatory scrutiny due to safety concerns after multiple crashes involving their vehicles.

Cruise, which resumed U.S. operations in April with a small fleet of human-driven vehicles in Phoenix, Arizona, said it updated the software in all supervised test fleet vehicles.