General Motors is winding down its Cruise robotaxi division, according to a new report from Bloomberg.
GM's exit from the market leaves Google's Waymo and Tesla as the two main names in autonomous driving. The division "proved costly and full of reputational pitfalls" for General Motors, the report said.
GM and Cruise will merge technical teams to focus on autonomous tech for future GM vehicles, halting robotaxi development due to high costs and stiff competition, the company announced Tuesday.
This marks a significant shift after Cruise weathered industry challenges and resumed operations following a high-profile incident last year.
The Bloomberg report said that GM's retreat from the robotaxi business reshapes its ambitions. CEO Mary Barra's vision of transforming GM into a tech-driven company with $50 billion from Cruise now seems distant. The move aligns GM with its core car-making focus, abandoning mobility-as-a-service goals.
This shift comes as Waymo expands and Tesla targets a 2026 robotaxi launch. Cruise had resumed operations with safety drivers in Dallas and Houston and planned California testing before the pivot.
The DOJ and SEC were among multiple agencies probing GM Cruise after a collision with a pedestrian last October.
Following the incident, California revoked Cruise's permits, citing the company's lack of transparency. A review by law firm Quinn Emanuel cleared Cruise executives of intentional deception but criticized their leadership and confrontational attitude towards regulators. The victim survived the accident.
Recall back in December 2023 we noted that Cruise was slashing 24% of its workforce as part of a restructuring. The autonomous driving unit at the time said it would lay off 900 of its 3,800 employees, most of whom were in the commercial operations and related corporate functions.
Exemplifying the difficulties of autonomy, the news came on the same day it was reported that Tesla was sued by the family of a deceased driver who lost his life during an accident where a car was purportedly operating on 'Autopilot'.