GM (General Motors) announced on Wednesday that it’s cutting spending at its self-driving car unit, Cruise. We expect the pace of Cruise’s expansion to be more deliberate when operations resume, resulting in substantially lower spending in 2024 than in 2023,” GM’s chief executive, Mary T. Barra, said Wednesday at an investor conference. “We must rebuild trust with regulators at the local, state and federal levels, as well as with the first responders and the communities in which Cruise will operate.”
GM suspending operation and spending on Cruise
As previously announced GM intends to cut back Cruise’s self-driving cars operations once the company restarts testing and ride hailing services.
GM is slowing the expansion of its Cruise self-driving cars division and significantly cutting spending at the unit after suspending operations in response to growing safety concerns about its self-driving cars.
For now, GM has suspended its operations for Cruise self-driving cars in the United States where it operates in various cities, mostly in southern states. Last month, the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoked Cruise’s permits to give rides to the public in that state. The company had been giving rides in San Francisco.
Charges against Cruise self-driving cars
The suspension resulted from charges that Cruise had withheld information and video regarding an incident in which a pedestrian was struck after being thrown into the Cruise car’s path by another vehicle. The Cruise vehicle then pulled forward, dragging the person along pavement for 20 feet. Cruise denied that it had withheld any evidence or information.
The company responded by pulling all its driverless vehicles off the roads, citing a need to regain public trust.
Kyle Vogt resignation
Following the suspension, Cruise announced it was pausing its public operations throughout the U.S. and, last week, Cruise chief executive Kyle Vogt resigned. The company’s chief product officer, Dan Kan, left the company shortly after.
In an email to Cruise employees at the time, Ms. Barra said she and the rest of Cruise’s board were “focused on setting Cruise up for long-term success,” adding: “Public trust is essential to this. As we work to rebuild that trust, safety, transparency and accountability will be our North Stars.”
Cruise production stops
GM also earlier announced that it had stopped production of the Origin van, a purely driverless vehicle which has no driver’s seat, steering wheel or pedals. Those vehicles had been used for testing, but GM had planned one day to deploy them on public streets. Cruise had been using modified Chevrolet Bolt EV vehicles which have controls for a human driver, although the cars are often sent on their own without a driver. (They are sometimes controlled remotely.)
Future of GM Cruise self-driving cars
GM announced last week that, whenever it resumed operations in the United States, it would be in only one city. Which city that will be, or when Cruise will re-start operations, has not been announced.
The reduction in spending relates to the broad reigning in of production and operations for Cruise. However, Barra reiterated GM’s commitment to autonomous vehicles.
“GM believes in the power of AVs to transform the future of mobility. We remain strongly committed to Cruise and are actively supporting the team as they refocus on trust, accountability and transparency,” she said.
