In the Order of Suspension, the California DMV said that the Cruise vehicle initially came to a hard stop and ran over the pedestrian. After coming to a complete stop, it then attempted to do a “pullover maneuver while the pedestrian was underneath the vehicle.” The car crawled along at 7 mph for about 20 feet, then came to a final stop. The pedestrian remained under the car the whole time.The best-case scenario for the safety (not the only consideration, but certainly an important one) of these vehicles is that they are safer drivers than humans in lots of ways, but will still fuckup in ways humans would be very unlikely to.
The day after the incident, DMV representatives met with Cruise to “discuss the incident.” During that meeting, Cruise only showed footage up to the first complete stop, according to the Order of Suspension. No one at Cruise told the officers or showed any footage of the subsequent pullover maneuver and dragging. The DMV only learned of that from “another government agency.” When DMV asked for footage of that part of the incident, Cruise provided it.
All the realistic sensors and programming in the world aren't going to respond appropriately to many of the cues we take for granted while driving. Things like hand waves, brief eye contact, a quick high beam flash, or, tragically, in this case, "person screaming while being dragged." And the "safer than humans" driving makes them slow, annoying, and, while not necessarily hazards to other cars, nuisances to them.