General Motors (GM) will cease funding its Cruise division’s robotaxi development, citing increasing competition, capital allocation priorities, and the significant resources required to grow the business. Instead, GM plans to realign its autonomous driving strategy to focus on advanced driver assistance systems and autonomous systems for personal vehicles.
The Detroit automaker spent over $10 billion on its robotaxi unit, but after nearly seven years of development, it has determined that the market is becoming increasingly competitive. GM CEO Mary Barra stated that the company’s decision was made due to the considerable time and resources needed to deploy a fleet, which posed significant operational challenges.
GM will fold the Cruise division into its broader tech team and combine it with its majority-owned Cruise LLC. The company anticipates reducing its annual expenditure on Cruise by more than half, from $2 billion to around $1 billion.
The decision comes as competitors like Alphabet-owned Waymo, Pony.ai, WeRide, Tesla, and Amazon-owned Zoox are expanding their autonomous vehicle services. Honda, an outside investor in Cruise, announced it would reassess its plans to launch a driverless ride-hailing service in Japan due to GM’s decision.
Cruise founder Kyle Vogt left the company in November 2023, shortly after grounding its driverless operations in October 2023. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration fined Cruise $1.5 million for failing to disclose details of a serious pedestrian crash that occurred during that time.
Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2024/12/10/gm-halts-funding-of-robotaxi-development-by-cruise.html