US regulators investigate GM's Cruise division over incidents involving pedestrians in roadways

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- U.S. regulators are investigating General Motors' Cruise autonomous vehicle division after receiving reports of incidents where vehicles may not have used proper caution around pedestrians on roadways.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that the reports involve automated driving system-equipped vehicles encroaching on pedestrians present in or entering roadways, including crosswalks. This could raise the risk of a vehicle striking a pedestrian, which could result in severe injury or death, according to the NHTSA.

Cruise vehicles have been tested in Houston for weeks and are now offering driverless rides to customers.

One Houstonian spoke with ABC13, saying she doesn't like this concept at all.

"I really don't want to be walking across the street and have a car coming at me with nobody in there to see that I'm there," Tamara Mayne said.

The NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation said it received two reports of pedestrian injuries from Cruise vehicles. It's also identified two additional incidents from videos posted to public websites. The office said the total number of relevant pedestrian incidents is unknown. It opened an investigation on Monday.

"Cruise's safety record over 5 million miles continues to outperform comparable human drivers at a time when pedestrian injuries and deaths are at an all-time high," Cruise spokesperson Hannah Lindow said in a prepared statement. "Cruise communicates regularly with NHTSA and has consistently cooperated with each of NHTSA's requests for information -- whether associated with an investigation or not -- and we plan to continue doing so."

The ODI said its investigation is being opened to help determine the scope and severity of the potential problem, including causal factors that may relate to ADS driving policies and performance around pedestrians, and to assess the potential safety risks fully.

In August, General Motors' Cruise unit agreed to cut its fleet of San Francisco robotaxis in half as authorities investigated two crashes in the city.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles asked for the reduction at the time after a Cruise vehicle without a human driver collided with an unspecified emergency vehicle.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. For news updates, follow Chaz Miller on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.