Since GM The Detroit automaker acquired San Francisco self-driving technology developer Cruise in 2016 and has poured more than $8 billion into creating a robotaxi service. Now GM is turning off the spigot.
In a call with investors today, GM The company will no longer invest in Cruise and its robotaxi services, CEO Mary Barra said. Instead, GM says it will combine Cruise’s self-driving efforts with its own teams focused on driver-assistance features. Eventually, the joint team will build “personal” self-driving vehicles, the CEO said.
“Given the significant time and expense required to scale a robotaxi business in an increasingly competitive market, joining forces will be more efficient and therefore consistent with our capital allocation priorities,” Barra said on the call.
In an emailed statement to WIRED, Cruise CEO Mark Whitten said the company and its board are “collaborating closely with GM on the next steps.”
The cruise had an uncertain few months. Last fall, the company was running robotaxi services in San Francisco, Phoenix, and Austin, Texas, and is preparing to launch them in more cities. Then, in October 2023, a cruise vehicle A pedestrian was struck in San Francisco Thrown by a vehicle driven by a human in a hit-and-run accident. Weeks later, appeared That Cruz employees did not disclose to organizers that the company vehicle had pulled the pedestrian more than 20 feet, seriously injuring them. California officials withdrew the company’s permit to operate its self-driving cars in the state, and Cruise suspended operations across the country.
Cruz has not fully recovered from the accident, which critics said indicated a flawed approach to safety. The robotaxi company paid millions in fines related to the incident to federal and state authorities. Nine senior executives and Company founder and CEO Kyle Vogt Left, and eventually GM Nearly a quarter of Cruz’s employees were laid off. Cruise began limited testing in a few cities this summer, but has not returned to offering Uber-like service.
Barra told analysts Tuesday that GM has found deploying and maintaining its robotaxi fleet to be too expensive and too far removed from the manufacturer’s core business of building and selling cars.
“If it wasn’t clear before, it’s clear now: GM is a bunch of puppets,” Vogt said to publish At X Tuesday afternoon.
What comes next?
Cruise technology will now be used to enhance the company’s Super Cruise technology, which is designed to perform certain “hands-free” driving tasks — lane keeping, lane changing, and emergency braking — on select highways. Drivers are warned to always remain alert while using Super Cruise, which cannot drive “autonomously.”
Eventually, GM intends to sell “Level 4” vehicles to car buyers, which can drive fully autonomously on some but not all roads. “We know that people everywhere like to drive their own cars, but not in all situations,” Barra told analysts.
General Motors owns 90% of Cruze and says it has reached an agreement with other shareholders to own more than 97% of the company. GM will “restructure and refocus” Cruze as part of the effort, but Barra could not say whether the new arrangement would result in layoffs.