The Detroit automaker will now focus on the development of what it calls "personal autonomous vehicles" instead of robotaxis. GM has yet to determine how many of Cruise's 2,300 employees will move into its broader tech team.
"In case it was unclear before, it is clear now: GM are a bunch of dummies," Cruise founder Kyle Vogt, who sold Cruise to GM in 2016 and left the company in November 2023, posted on X after the automaker's exit announcement.
An early entrant in the U.S. robotaxi market, Cruise grounded its driverless operations in October 2023, shortly before Vogt's departure. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration fined Cruise $1.5 million after the company failed to disclose details of a serious crash that month involving a pedestrian.