California regulators are alleging a San Francisco robotaxi service owned by General Motors covered up the severity of an accident involving one of its vehicles, raising the possibility a fine will result from the case.

The potential penalty facing GM’s Cruise service could be around $1.5 million, based on documents filed late last week by the California Public Utilities Commission.

The notice orders Cruise to appear at a Feb. 6 evidentiary hearing to determine whether the robotaxi service misled regulators about what happened after one of its driverless cars ran into a pedestrian who had already been struck by another vehicle driven by a human on the evening of Oct. 2 in San Francisco. That accident critically injured the run-over pedestrian.

Then three weeks after the accident, the California Department of Motor Vehicles suspended the robotaxi's license to operate in the state. The suspension was a major blow for Cruise and its corporate parent GM, which absorbed huge losses during the development of the driverless service.

Kyle Vogt resigned as CEO of Cruise on Nov. 19.

Without directly addressing the potential fine, GM CEO Mary Barra said Monday that the October crash has helped the automaker learn more about the need for transparency and a better relationship with regulators.

Cruise issued its own statement pledging to respond “in a timely manner” to the Public Utilities Commission’s concerns.

The most serious questions about the incident concern Cruise’s handling of a video showing a robotaxi named “Panini” dragging the pedestrian 20 feet at a speed of seven miles per hour before coming to the stop.

In a Dec. 1 filing recounting how Cruise handled disclosures about the accident, the Public Utilities Commission asserted the company tried to conceal how its robotaxi reacted to the accident for more than two weeks.

Cruise didn’t provide the video footage until Oct. 19, according to the regulatory filing.

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