GM to retreat from robotaxis and stop funding its Cruise autonomous vehicle unit
AP Auto Writer
DETROIT (AP) — General Motors said Tuesday it will retreat from the robotaxi business and stop funding its money-losing Cruise autonomous vehicle unit.
Instead the Detroit automaker will focus on development of partially automated driver-assist systems for personal vehicles like its Super Cruise, which allows drivers to take their hands off the steering wheel.
GM said it would get out of robotaxis “given the considerable time and resources that would be needed to scale the business, along with an increasingly competitive robotaxi market.”
The company said it will combine Cruise’s technical team with its own to work on advanced systems to assist drivers.
GM bought Cruise automation in 2016 for at least $1 billion with high hopes of developing a profitable fleet of robotaxis.
Over the years GM invested billions in the subsidiary and eventually bought 90% of the company from investors, all while racking up millions in losses.
GM even announced plans for Cruise to generate $1 billion in annual revenue by 2025, but it scaled back spending on the company after one of its autonomous Chevrolet Bolts dragged a San Francisco pedestrian who was hit by another vehicle in 2023.
The California Public Utilities Commission alleged Cruise then covered up details of the crash for more than two weeks.
The incident resulted in Cruise’s license to operate its driverless fleet in California being suspended by regulators and triggered a purge of its leadership — in addition to layoffs that jettisoned about a quarter of its workforce.
GM CEO Mary Barra said Tuesday the the new unit will focus on personal vehicles and developing systems that can drive by themselves in certain circumstances.
The company has agreements to buy another 7% of Cruise and intends to buy the remaining shares so it owns the whole company.
The move is another step back from autonomous vehicles, which have proved far harder to develop than companies once anticipated. Two years ago, crosstown rival Ford Motor Co. disbanded its Argo AI autonomous vehicle venture in Pittsburgh that it co-owned with Volkswagen.
At the time the company said it didn’t see a path to profitability for a number of years.
Yet other companies are still developing autonomous vehicles and expanding their services.
Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo is accelerating plans to broaden its robotaxi service beyond areas of metropolitan Phoenix, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Last week the company said it would begin testing its driverless Jaguars in Miami next year, with plans to start charging for rides in 2026.
The move comes less than a month after Waymo opened up its robotaxi service to anyone looking for a ride in an 80-square-mile (129 square kilometer) area of Los Angeles. Waymo also has plans to launch fleets in Atlanta and Austin next year in partership with ride-hailing leader Uber.
In April, a company called Aurora Innovation plans to start hauling freight on Texas freeways using fully driverless semis.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said his company plans to have autonomous Models Y and 3 running without human drivers next year. Robotaxis without steering wheels using Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” system would be available in 2026 starting in California and Texas, he said.
But an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration into Full Self-Driving’s ability to see in low visibility conditions cast doubt on whether Teslas are ready to be deployed without humans behind the wheel.
The agency began the investigation in October after getting reports of four crashes involving “Full Self-Driving” when Teslas encountered sun glare, fog and airborne dust. An Arizona pedestrian was killed in one of the crashes.
