Kyle Vogt has announced that he has signed on as the full-time CEO of the GM-backed autonomous vehicle startup company, Cruise. Vogt was appointed as interim CEO in December following the departure of Cruise CEO Dan Ammann. Vogt previously served as Cruise president and chief technical officer.
Kyle Vogt
Vogt announced via social media Monday that he had formally accepted the job offer as CEO at Cruise.
“I have no doubt it will be a difficult challenge given our very ambitious plans, but I couldn’t imagine doing anything more important or more fun,” Vogt posted to social media. “I’m never going to have trouble getting out of bed.”
Vogt founded Cruise alongside Dan Kan in 2013, with GM taking a majority stake of the startup in 2016. Based in San Francisco, California, Cruise employs roughly 1,800 workers, as of 2020.
Chevrolet Bolt EV-based Cruise development prototype
“Based on feedback from early users of our robo-taxi service, we’ve made something really special. I try to stay clear of too much hype and unrealistic expectations, but this just feels absurdly better than the status quo,” Vogt posted to social media. “We’ve needed this for a long time.”
Cruise currently has deployed a fleet of self-driving Chevy Bolt EVs throughout San Francisco as part of the development of new autonomous driving technology. The Chevy Bolt EVs are available for rides to the public, which are currently offered free of charge. However, Cruise has also applied for a permit that will allow the company to charge for the autonomous rides.
GM CEO Mary Barra recently took a ride through San Francisco in one of Cruise’s autonomous Bolts. Sitting alongside Vogt, Barra described the experience as “surreal.”
Cruise also currently operates a smaller fleet of autonomous Bolts in Arizona, where the driverless vehicles participate in a pilot delivery program with retail corporation Walmart. The pilot program is now set to expand, as GM Authority covered previously.
Back in January of 2020, Cruise unveiled Origin, the company’s first production-ready autonomous robo-taxi. Cruise is now seeking approval to begin production.
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Comments
Best wishes and good luck. Saw the spinning turbin on the rooftop of a car on Southbound 101 thirty years ago.
Caterpillar and Komatsu are using this device now to guide large mine haul trucks. Hope the original inventor benefits from their concept. Unlike many pioneer milestone inventors who got screwed out of their just rewards for their work in applied science.
I have compassion for all the Uber and taxi drivers out there trying to make a living. If someone could figure out how to keep the wino’s and junkies from barfing or peeing in the vehicle this urban transportation solution will be a real winner.
“Based on feedback from early users of our robo-taxi service, we’ve made something really special. I try to stay clear of too much hype and unrealistic expectations, but this just feels absurdly better than the status quo,” Vogt posted to social media. “We’ve needed this for a long time.”
I’d hate to see what you consider really crappy…
I expect passengers that foul a robotaxi interior will pay an expensive cleanup fee. Typically, the fee will be an unavoidable credit card charge. So, if you don’t have a credit card or similar you won’t get to use robotaxis. Also, anyone that fouls a robotaxi interior should expect be found out because close monitoring will catch 99% of those that misuse robotaxis.
Even though I am not a pig that would dirty one of these drones, I will not ride in a vehicle in the first place if Big Brother is monitoring me. If there is not a camera in the vehicle who is going to monitor the damage? If a person is accused of dirtying the vehicle absent a camera, it will be a he-said she-said situation. I’m sure the companies and the police are not going to spend countless manhours and dollars figuring out who took a dump or a leak in one of these things.
A new potential job opportunity, the Dump Police. Maybe Harvard or USC could offer it as a major for the undergrads?
Remember the tall upright glass walled pay telephone booths with the accordion folding doors that we all had to use before cell phones? Remember the stale foul odors from urination relief inside the booth from prior users?
Anything unmanned or not patrolled in public in an urban environment and even in a rural environment is subject to rogue humans trashing it and relieving themselves. That’s why you need a fleet of janitorial folks maintaining a sanitary environment. Just look at BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) underground corridors and stations if daily/hourly cleaning did not occur. Look at the streets and alleys of the Tenderloin District in San Francisco. Unmanned transit vehicles will need constant housekeeping. This is a given.