So Long, Cruise Robotaxi, but GM Remains “Fully Committed” to Autonomous Driving

Scratch one robotaxi off the list: General Motors is pivoting away from its Cruise driverless taxi business and applying the technology to customer cars and trucks. So said the company said in a statement Tuesday titled, “GM to refocus autonomous driving development on personal vehicles.”

“GM is committed to delivering the best driving experiences to our customers in a disciplined and capital efficient manner,” said Mary Barra, chairman and CEO of GM. “Cruise has been an early innovator in autonomy, and the deeper integration of our teams, paired with GM’s strong brands, scale, and manufacturing strength, will help advance our vision for the future of transportation.”

It’s quite a turnaround for Barra, who said last year that she expected Cruise to generate $50 billion in annual revenue by 2030. In a call with analysts late Tuesday, Barra said, “You’ve got to really understand the cost of running a robotaxi fleet, which is fairly significant, and again, not our core business.”

Last July, GM ended the development of the purpose-built, box-shaped Origin robotaxi, which did not have a steering wheel, or brake and accelerator pedals. At the time, GM pledged to concentrate on developing the Bolt as its taxi platform. This latest decision leaves Tesla, Waymo and Baidu, among others, to carry on with the robotaxi business.

Possibly what ultimately brought down the Cruise robotaxi occurred in 2023 in San Francisco when one of its driverless taxis struck a woman who had already been hit by a conventional car, dragging her down the street for 20 feet after pinning her beneath the vehicle. GM and Cruise did not immediately or accurately report the incident, which drew fines from the government. Cruise blamed a software malfunction for the San Francisco crash, and recalled 950 of the vehicles.

Cruise and GM, which owns about 90 percent of Cruise, reached a private settlement with the woman, rumored by one source to be between $8 and $12 million. Still, the California Department of Motor Vehicles suspended Cruise’s robotaxi permit.

So rather than spend more money on driverless taxicabs, GM will double down on a private path to full autonomy. The company says it will “prioritize development of advanced driver assistance systems on a path to fully autonomous personal vehicles. GM will build on the progress of Super Cruise, the company’s hands-off, eyes-on driving feature, now offered on more than 20 GM vehicle models and currently logging over 10 million miles per month.”

“As the largest U.S. automotive manufacturer, we’re 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,” said Dave Richardson, senior vice-president of GM software and services engineering.