General Motors is getting out of the robotaxi business.
On Tuesday, the auto giant announced it would stop funding subsidiary Cruise’s robotaxi effort. GM cited heavy competition in the robotaxi field and the tremendous capital needed to expand the business.
According to GM, Cruise employees will be brought over to GM to fill out its tech divisions. The company hasn’t confirmed how many of Cruise’s employees will be let go.
The company said the Cruise teams will help GM develop its own line of driver assistance systems for its vehicles before starting work on a fully autonomous vehicle.
Tuesday’s announcement ends a troubled eight-year relationship between Cruise and General Motors. GM purchased a controlling share of Cruise in 2016 and became one of the early adopters of the robotaxi idea, launching an autonomous taxi service in California a few years later.
However, Cruise halted all operations in late 2023 after California regulators revoked the company’s operations license for failing to disclose all information regarding a collision between one of its robotaxis and a pedestrian.
While GM signaled support for relaunching Cruise this year by restarting testing in Phoenix, the company’s setbacks hurt its market position. Alphabet’s Waymo robotaxi now stands as the clear leader in the robotaxi space, running the service in four cities.
Additionally, smaller robotaxi outfits like Zoox and Wayve started testing their autonomous taxis in California this year. Tesla, the current leader in electric vehicle sales in the U.S., also announced in October it would launch its own robotaxi fleet in the coming years.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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