General Motors scraps robotaxi development in new fallout from 2023 crash

General Motors said it will no longer invest in robotaxi development at its autonomous-vehicle unit Cruise. Photo / 123RF

General Motors will no longer invest in robotaxi development at its autonomous-vehicle unit Cruise, a major blow to the automaker that was once a leader in the technology but struggled to recover after a grisly crash.

In a statement, GM said it would end work developing autonomous vehicles for its taxi service because of increasing competition and “the considerable time and resources that would be needed to scale the business”.

The company would continue to develop autonomous vehicle technology but focus on projects that “build on the progress” of its driver-assistance software, Super Cruise, available in GM vehicles today.

Cruise chief executive Marc Whitten said the Cruise board of directors and the Cruise leadership team were “collaborating closely with GM on next steps”.

General Motors spokesman Kevin Kelly said it was “too early to provide specifics” on the expected impact to the staff at the company, such as layoffs or restructuring. Cruise employees were informed of the decision today.

This decision comes after a tumultuous year for Cruise, after one of its cars hit and dragged a jaywalking pedestrian in San Francisco in October 2023. The woman was initially struck by a human-driven car and rolled onto its windshield but was then flung into the path of a driverless Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicle operated by Cruise. The autonomous car, part of a fleet offering paid rides to the public, dragged her for about six metres.

The pedestrian survived but was gravely injured. Cruise reached a settlement with her for an undisclosed amount. Bloomberg News reported that the payout was between US$8 million ($13.7m) and US$12m.

GM was hit with a series of state and federal investigations and fines after the incident. It also suffered further penalties after initially misrepresenting key information about the collision to regulators. The company pulled its driverless operations nationally after the crash but later restarted testing its technology with supervision from humans in the driver’s seat in Phoenix, Dallas and Houston.

Dave Richardson, senior vice president of software and services engineering at GM, said the company was “fully committed to autonomous driving and excited to bring GM customers its benefits — things like enhanced safety, improved traffic flow, increased accessibility, and reduced driver stress.”

GM’s decision to abandon robotaxi development comes as other leading developers of the technology prepare to scale up.

Alphabet’s Waymo, which originated as a project inside Google, has been expanding its robotaxi service in San Francisco, Los Angeles and other cities around the US. Tesla is developing its own robotaxi, the Cybercab, with chief executive Elon Musk expected to leverage his connections with the incoming Trump administration to fast-track the technology onto US roads.

GM spokesman Kelly said the company would work with the remaining Cruise shareholders to acquire the remaining shares and aimed to work with the company’s leadership team to “restructure and refocus Cruise’s operations.”

He expected the restructuring to be complete in mid-2025.

Former Cruise chief executive Kyle Vogt, who resigned after the October 2023 crash, yesterday criticised the decision in a post on social media site X.

“In case it was unclear before, it is clear now: GM are a bunch of dummies,” he wrote. He did not respond to a request for comment.

- Washington Post