Since a pedestrian became trapped under a Cruise AV unit after being struck by a human-driven vehicle, General Motors’ autonomous driving subsidiary has been reeling from a string of investigations and suspensions that eventually lead it to pause all robotaxi activity across the United States. Now, Cruise has announced that it is laying off some of its workforce as a direct consequence of these actions.
According to a report from CNBC, Cruise has announced a round of layoffs that will affect contractual workers supporting its robotaxi fleet. More specially, those who helped with cleaning the vehicles, fleet charging and fielding customer support inquiries now find themselves without a job.
It’s worth noting that Cruise declined to provide the specific number of workers affected.
The self-driving company went on to explain that the layoffs are reflective of its current operations, which as of the time of this writing are paused across the U.S. Moving forward, Cruise stated that it will eventually resume robotaxi operations, but has yet to possess a definite timeline.
“Cruise has made the difficult decision to reduce a portion of the contingent workforce that supported driverless ridehail operations,” a Cruise spokesperson announced in a prepared statement. “These contingent workers were responsible for work such as cleaning, charging and maintaining the fleet, and we’re grateful for their contributions.”
As a reminder, this development follows the NHSTA’s investigation into the company’s handling of pedestrian safety, which was then promptly followed by the California DMV’s suspension of its driverless operation license.
“When there is an unreasonable risk to public safety, the DMV can immediately suspend or revoke permits,” the California DMV stated.
Of course, Cruise isn’t sitting by waiting for the dust to settle. In fact, the autonomous driving subsidiary recently announced a recall to update its collision detection system, which now provides provisions in the case of another pedestrian-related incident as the one referenced above. It also hired an external firm to investigate the company’s response to recent events.
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Hopefully they will shut the whole thing down.