The American automobile giant General Motors announced on Tuesday in a statement that it would abandon the robotaxis activity of its Cruise subsidiary to concentrate on the development of advanced driving assistance systems for cars sold to individuals.
Cruise was one of the pioneers of autonomous driving technology and had a fleet of driverless taxis, or robotaxis, in several American city centers, until he suffered a serious accident in late 2023 in San Francisco.
One of their vehicles had hit a pedestrian who had just been hit by another vehicle, with a driver.
The authorities withdrew the company’s permit, especially due to its way of handling the incident: it took several days for employees to reveal that the robotaxi had not stayed still. His maneuver to stop had the effect of dragging the victim several meters.
“GM run by a bunch of losers”
After this episode, General Motors (GM) strengthened control over the subsidiary. Cruise co-founder Kyle Vogt had to resign and Cruise laid off 900 employees, a quarter of his workforce.
The company had progressively resumed its development activities, under supervision, and would be available on the car booking giant Uber’s platform during the first half of 2025.
But GM announced on Tuesday its decision to integrate engineers from its subsidiary into its teams to work on its assisted and autonomous driving technology.
“Consistent with its capital allocation priorities, GM will no longer fund Cruise’s robotaxis development work, given the considerable time and resources that would be required to scale the company, especially in an increasingly competitive market,” it says. the manufacturer.
“In case it wasn’t clear before, it is now: GM is run by a bunch of losers,” Kyle Vogt reacted in X.
Autonomy market
Honda, an investor in Cruise, had planned to launch a robotaxis service in Japan in 2026, but the Japanese group “will reassess the future of the project and make necessary adjustments, including a possible cancellation, once Cruise has completed its restructuring,” it said. its subsidiary. in the United States, he told AFP.
Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet (Google’s parent company), has moved ahead in this market with its driverless Jaguars, widely used in several large American cities, such as Phoenix (Arizona) and San Francisco.
In early October, Tesla unveiled its robotaxi, called Cybercab, but revealed that production was not expected to begin until 2026.
And autonomous vehicles from Zoox, an Amazon subsidiary, are being tested and deployed in restricted areas of Las Vegas and San Francisco.
Unlike the Cruise and Waymo, they have no steering wheel, all four seats face inwards and can drive in any direction, without turning around.
General Motors said Tuesday that it remains “fully committed” to pursuing autonomous driving for consumer cars.
“Our commitment to driver assistance and autonomous technology to make driving safer, more accessible and less stressful is unwavering,” said Mary Barra, head of the group, during a conference for analysts.
The manufacturer’s shares gained more than 2% during electronic trading after the New York Stock Exchange closed.
Source: BFM TV
