The San Francisco Police Department disclosed new details Monday that shed light on the crash of a Cruise self-driving vehicle last month in San Francisco.
The Cruise vehicle carried three adult passengers in its rear seats, police said. Paramedics transported one of those passengers to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries following the June 3 collision, according to police.
Two occupants in the Toyota Prius, a male driver and female passenger seated in the rear, were treated for injuries at the scene and released. A Cruise official had written in a June 10 report that occupants of both vehicles were treated for “allegedly minor injuries.”
A police spokesperson said no citations were issued and no arrests were made following the crash, which occurred at the Geary Boulevard and Spruce Street intersection. But the crash remains “an open investigation,” according to the spokesperson, who said the ongoing nature of that probe prevented her from discussing how the crash occurred.
In a regulatory filing, Todd Brugger, vice president of global markets at Cruise, wrote that the Cruise AV had come to a stop in the road before completing its turn and that the oncoming Prius had been speeding.
But those details have not been independently verified. Cruise, a General Motors affiliate, declined to release video footage from the crash. The driver of the Prius could not be reached for comment.
Separately, reports obtained from the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management said the Prius was operating as part of Uber’s ride-hailing service at the time of the crash.
The crash is one incident in a series involving Cruise vehicles in San Francisco, and it came two weeks after a person claiming to be a current Cruise employee sent a letter to state regulators expressing concerns about the company’s safety culture and readiness to begin commercial operations in San Francisco.
