The NHTSA has opened an investigation into reported incidents involving pedestrians and the self-driving vehicles.
Cruise LLC autonomous vehicles may have problems with how the automated driving system (ADS) functions in the presence of pedestrians.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened a federal investigation following complaints about the vehicles operating while pedestrians are on the roadways, including pedestrians in crosswalks.
NHTSA said an accurate number of incidents is unknown, but the government received two reports involving pedestrian injuries caused by Cruise vehicles equipped with automated systems. NHTSA is also aware of two additional incidents from public videos.
"These reports involve ADS equipped vehicles encroaching on pedestrians present in or entering roadways, including pedestrian crosswalks, in the proximity of the intended travel path of the vehicles," NHTSA said.
Right now the Cruise ADS investigation is in the preliminary stage as regulators look into the possible safety risk and how the Cruise vehicles perform around pedestrians.
