GM'S TROUBLED ROBOTAXI SERVICE FACES ANOTHER ROUND OF PUBLIC RIDICULE IN REGULATORYHEARING

General Motors’ troubled robotaxi service Cruise this week endured a public lashing from a California judge who compared the company to the devious TV character Eddie Haskell for its behavior following a ghastly collision that wrecked its ambitious expansion plans.

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The withering comparison to the two-faced Haskell from the 1950s-era TV series, “Leave It To Beaver,” was drawn by Administrative Law Judge Robert Mason III during an hour-long hearing held to consider a proposed settlement of a case accusing Cruise trying to conceal its excruciating role in an incident that resulted in the suspension of its California license.

After a vehicle driven by a human struck a San Francisco pedestrian in early October, a Cruise robotaxi named “Panini” dragged the person 20 feet (6 meters) while traveling at roughly seven miles per hour (11 kilometers per hour).

But the California Public Utilities Commission, which in August had granted Cruise a permit to operate an around-the-clock fleet of computer-driven taxis throughout San Francisco, alleged Cruise then covered up what Panini did for more than two weeks, raising the specter of a potential fine of $1.5 million, depending on how the regulations are interpreted.