San Francisco woman gets trapped under Cruise driverless car after being hit by driver, company says

SAN FRANCISCO — A woman remains hospitalized in serious condition after being trapped under an autonomous car following a crash in San Francisco.

It happened Monday night in downtown around 9:31 p.m. Police say when officers arrived, they found the woman trapped under a Cruise driverless car.

Firefighters said they had to use the “jaws of life” to lift the car off of the woman. She was rushed to the hospital with “multiple traumatic injuries,” according to the San Francisco Fire Department.

In a statement posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, Cruise said another driver hit the woman, sending her into the path of one of their autonomous vehicles before leaving the scene.

Our sister station in San Francisco spoke with a spokesperson for Cruise Tuesday who shared video of the crash. While they would not let ABC7 News record the video as to not compromise the police investigation, it showed another car hit the victim first.

The impact of that crash was so severe, the victim was thrown into the way of the Cruise vehicle before she was run over. Cruise officials said their vehicle operated as designed and started braking moments before impact.

Police are investigating, although they would not confirm if this was a hit-and-run.

“At the very minimum, we are canvassing the area for witnesses, for surveillance video, for any video that may have been captured by any personal individuals, as well as the technology that’s utilized in the vehicle itself,” SFPD Officer Robert Rueca said.

Police added that this is a first for them and they have not seen a crash involving injuries this serious with an autonomous car up until Monday night.