GM Cruise faces scrutiny

General Motors Co.-backed self-driving startup Cruise is facing scrutiny from U.S. regulators and its own board of directors after a pair of on-road incidents raised questions about how ready the company is to expand its services.

GM’s autonomous-vehicle unit scored a triumph last month when it beat Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo to market with permission to charge for rides.

The next day, there was an accident involving a Cruise car and a Toyota Prius that left two people with minor injuries.

Later in June, as many as a dozen Cruise vehicles stopped at a single intersection due to a technical problem, blocking other motorists for more than an hour.

Since then, state regulators and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency have been in contact with Cruise because residents complained about the traffic jam.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has also contacted Cruise requesting information. Cruise spokesperson Aaron McLear said the NHTSA “has not opened a formal investigation into Cruise” for these or any other issues.

Copper suffers big decline

Copper reversed losses alongside a broader rally across markets after data showed the lowest reading in a year for longer-term inflation expectations.

But the red metal is still set for a 7.6% loss this week, the steepest weekly decline in a year.

Metal prices endured one of the worst weeks since the coronavirus pandemic began, with economic bellwether copper dropping as much as 3% to below $7,000 a ton earlier Friday.

Most other base metals rebounded after falling earlier.

Markets have been plagued by two main worries: that Europe will slip into recession due to punishing energy prices and that China’s biggest cities will continue to be locked down due to COVID-19.the country’s covid-zero policy.

From wire reports