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GM's Cruise robotaxi service targeted in Justice Department inquiry into San Francisco collision

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GM's Cruise robotaxi service targeted in Justice Department inquiry into San Francisco collision

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — General Motors is facing a U.S. Justice Department investigation into a gruesome collision that critically injured a pedestrian and derailed its self-driving car ambitions.

The Justice Department inquiry disclosed in a report Thursday is the latest twist in a debacle that began in October after a robotaxi operated by GM’s Cruise subsidiary dragged a pedestrian about 20 feet (6 meters) after the person was struck in San Francisco by another vehicle driven by a human.

The incident resulted in Cruise’s license to operate its driverless fleet in California being suspended by regulators and triggered a purge of its leadership — in addition to layoffs that jettisoned about a quarter of its workforce — as GM curtailed its once-lofty ambitions in self-driving technology. Cruise’s omission of key details about what happened in the Oct. 2 incident also led to allegations of a coverup that could result in a fine of $1.5 million. Cruise has offered to pay $75,000 instead.

GM didn’t release any details about the nature of the Justice Department’s investigation, or of another one by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. A company spokesman would only say GM is cooperating with authorities.

The revelations about the latest troubles facing Detroit-based GM and San Francisco-based Cruise came in a report reviewing how things were handled after the pedestrian was hurt.

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The report prepared by the law firm of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan rebuked Cruise’s management that has since been dumped for “poor leadership, mistakes in judgment, lack of coordination, an ‘us versus them’ mentality with regulators.” But the report also asserted that Cruise initially thought it had shown California regulators a video that included segments showing a robotaxi named “Panini” dragging the pedestrian, only to discover later that scene hadn’t been seen because of internet streaming issues.

The report blamed Cruise for having a “myopic focus” on protecting its reputation instead of setting the record straight after management realized regulators hadn’t seen the video of the incident in its entirety.

“Cruise must take decisive steps to address these issues in order to restore trust and credibility,” according to the report’s summary findings.

GM has already installed a new management team at Cruise and walked back its goals for a driverless division that was supposed to transform the transportation industry by operating robotic ride-hailing services across the U.S. Even as skeptics raised doubts about whether autonomous driving technology had become reliable enough to realize that vision, GM was projecting Cruise would generate $1 billion in revenue by 2025 — 10 times the amount it had been bringing in during a ramp-up phase that resulted in billions of dollars in losses.

Cruise had cleared a significant hurdle last August when California regulators approved its request to begin operating its robotaxi service throughout San Francisco at all hours — over the strenuous objections of city officials — only to have it all unravel in early October.

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Video: ‘We Are Orphans’: Shiite Muslims Protest the Killing of Khamenei

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Video: ‘We Are Orphans’: Shiite Muslims Protest the Killing of Khamenei

new video loaded: ‘We Are Orphans’: Shiite Muslims Protest the Killing of Khamenei

Shiite Muslims around the world protested the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader and a senior Shiite Muslim cleric. He died on Saturday during U.S. and Israeli attacks on his country.

By Nader Ibrahim and Malachy Browne

March 1, 2026

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3 US service members killed, 5 seriously wounded in Iran operation

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3 US service members killed, 5 seriously wounded in Iran operation

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Three U.S. service members were killed and five others were seriously wounded as part of Operation Epic Fury, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said Sunday morning.

In addition, several others sustained minor shrapnel injuries and concussions and are in the process of being returned to duty, CENTCOM announced.

“The situation is fluid, so out of respect for the families, we will withhold additional information, including the identities of our fallen warriors, until 24 hours after next of kin have been notified,” CENTCOM said.

Smoke rises over the city center after an Israeli army launches 2nd wave of airstrikes on Iran on Saturday.  (Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images)

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At least nine killed after Iranian strike on Israel’s Beit Shemesh

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At least nine killed after Iranian strike on Israel’s Beit Shemesh

BREAKING,

The Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency service says that 20 others were injured by the impact.

At least nine people have been killed after an Iranian missile strike on the central Israeli city of Beit Shemesh, as Tehran continued to launch retaliatory attacks a day after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in US-Israeli strikes.

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The Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency service said on Sunday that nine people were killed and 20 other people were injured by the impact, including two in serious condition.

The Israeli military said in a statement that search and rescue teams, and a helicopter to evacuate those injured are currently operating in Beit Shemesh, with the army’s spokesperson adding that the circumstances of the impact from the Iranian ballistic missile are under review.

More to come …

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