> Absent some special explanation from Cruise, which they are not offering at the current time

This is the problem. Cruise and other operators lobby SF to hide the details of their accidents, on the grounds they are secret corporate information, as I recall. Self regulation, self measurement.

Trust is earned. Here it's not being developed.

I don't know how you progressed from not speaking to a cabal of secret lobbyists. Can you explain?

Hi. Here is the news item, https://sfist.com/2022/01/28/waymo-suing-ca-dmv-to-keep-cras...

Re "cabal of secret lobbyists" a la Despicable Me:

To me this news item asserts Waymo, not Cruise, is managing the message heavy handedly.