Thursday, August 10, 2023, San Francisco, California, USA.
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General Motors It said on Tuesday it would no longer fund Cruise’s robo-taxi development efforts, citing “capital allocation priorities,” the “significant time and resources required to expand the business, and the increasing competition in the robo-taxi market.”
The Detroit automaker plans to “refocus its autonomous driving strategy” to focus on advanced driver assistance systems and self-driving systems for personal vehicles, and will merge majority-owned Cruise LLC and General Motors Technologies team.
GM owns about 90% of Cruise and has reached an agreement with other shareholders to increase its stake to more than 97%, the company said in a statement. General Motors plans to seek to “acquire the remaining shares.” Chief Executive and Chairman Mary Barra and other GM executives will discuss the Cruise restructuring with analysts in Detroit at 4:30 p.m.
This summer, the Detroit automaker said it would indefinitely delay production of its Origin self-driving cars as its Cruise self-driving unit tried to Restart operations. Cruise has since focused on developing self-driving cars using the next-generation Chevrolet Bolt.
In October 2023, Cruise suspended its self-driving operations following collisions, run-ins with regulators and the suspension of its license to operate a robo-taxi ride-hailing service in California.
in the united states letterGeneral Motors Co.’s Waymo has begun operating commercial robotaxi services in several major metro areas, while General Motors Co.’s Cruise has faltered. Chinese autonomous vehicle manufacturers such as Pony.ai and WeRide are also venturing into overseas markets.
TeslaAt the same time, the design concept of the autonomous driving Cybercab was demonstrated at the October event. Tesla still classifies the Autopilot and full self-driving software in its vehicles as “partially autonomous systems,” which require humans to be ready to steer or brake at all times. in a October Earnings Conference CallTesla CEO Musk said the company will launch self-driving ride-hailing services in California and Texas as early as 2025.
SoftBank-backed Wayve is testing self-driving cars in San Francisco AmazonThe company that owns Zoox is also testing its self-driving cars without steering wheels in several U.S. cities, including San Francisco.
watch: Uber, Lyft give up on news of Waymo expansion to Miami
