Cruise driverless taxis face fed probe to see if GM took sufficient precautions to keep pedestrians safe - after woman was struck by hit-and-run driver and hit then by robotaxi

US safety regulators have opened an investigation into Cruise self-driving vehicles after a spate of complaints and injuries.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will probe owners General Motors to see if it took safety precautions to protect pedestrians from their robotaxi cars after receiving two complaints, and learning of two more online.

'The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) has received reports of incidents in which Automated Driving System (ADS) equipped vehicles operated by Cruise LLC (Cruise) may not have exercised appropriate caution around pedestrians in the roadway,' NHTSA said in a statement.

'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.'

The investigation will look into an October 2 incident when a San Francisco woman was hit by a driver at an intersection and was then was run over by a driverless Cruise vehicle.

Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt speaks at their launch in San Francisco. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has launched a probe in the safety measures Cruise takes

Footage shows a woman's feet sticking out from under a Cruise vehicle after it ran over her following a hit-and-run in October

The Cruise car stopped on top of her for 30 minutes while she screamed for help. Shocking footage from the scene shows her feet sticking out from under the white car.

A second incident listed in the investigation involves an August accident when a Cruise car hit a pedestrian who stepped into a crosswalk after the light had turned green.

The car swerved and braked but made contact with the person while traveling at about 1.4 mph. The pedestrian had to be transported from the scene by emergency medical services, according to the report.

In September, the company released a study comparing human driver crashes and automated car crashes that they said helps them improve safety measures.

'This research helps us understand the status quo of human driving safety in the ridehail space, and enables us to better understand the positive safety impact Cruise has on the road,' Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt said. 

'Our work in making technological improvements will never stop and a benchmark study is part of understanding our safety performance.'

The robotaxi company said they use this data to actively make improvements to their vehicles. 

The company has faced several other probes from regulatory agencies. In California, the Department of Motor Vehicles asked Cruise to cut its fleet in half after one of their cars collided with an emergency vehicle in August while carrying a passenger.

The move came just a week after California regulators allowed Cruise and Google spinoff, Waymo, to operate autonomous robotaxis throughout San Francisco at all hours, despite safety worries spurred by recurring problems with unexpected stops and other erratic behavior.

Cruise was forced to cut its fleet of robotaxis in half after one of their vehicles smashed into a fire truck in San Francisco while carrying a passenger

In another incident, two Cruise cars blocked a ambulance carrying car crash victim, delaying their trip to the hospital. The ambulance passenger later died shortly after they arrived at hospital.

Cruise has since put out a statement sharing the measures it is taking to improve emergency vehicle and first responder interactions.

The company said their vehicles will start to proactively slow down even earlier when they hear emergency vehicle sirens and they enhanced the cars ability to predict if a fire truck will continue to drive through an intersection against a red light.

DailyMail.com has reached out to General Motors and Cruise for comment.