GM recently announced that it was dropping plans to launch a new self-driving robotaxi service, instead opting to refocus its autonomous vehicle technology efforts on personal vehicles. The announcement also included a restructuring effort at the company’s self-driving tech division, Cruise. Now, according to a new report, employees were surprised by the announcement, and remain unsure where their employment future may be leading.
According to a report from TechCrunch, Cruise employees were notified of the impending restructuring effort via a message on cloud-based team communication platform Slack, which included a link to a GM press release that stated General Motors was refocusing its autonomous driving tech on personal vehicles. The tech company has been working towards the goal of a fleet of self-driving robotaxis for years, with GM acquiring the startup in 2016. Staff were told that their tech developments would “live on” in future vehicles.
In a follow-up meeting, employees were informed that the company would be absorbed into GM in a process expected to take several months to complete, but details regarding whether or not job cuts would be expected were not provided. According to TechCrunch, employees reportedly felt “blindsided” by the announcement.
GM currently owns around 90 percent of Cruise and has announced plans to increase ownership to over 97 percent. General Motors will work alongside the tech company leadership team in the restructuring effort, while company executives Marc Whitten, Mohamed Elshenawy, and Craig Glidden will remain with Cruise.
The restructuring effort is expected to lower spending by more than $1 billion annually, with GM already investing over $10 billion into the tech company. As GM Authority reported previously, GM has indefinitely paused production of the Origin robotaxi, while an array of Origin robotaxis is now in storage at the Milford Proving Ground.
Cruise has been under enormous pressure in the last few years to turn a profit. Following the acquisition of a permit that allowed commercial operations in San Francisco, the company was put under the microscope following an incident in which a pedestrian was injured after being hit by a human-driven vehicle and thrown in front of an autonomous Cruise vehicle. The incident resulted in a total grounding of the Cruise fleet and layoffs, while CEO and co-founder Kyle Vogt stepped down.
Comments
All those taxis rotting in the weeds reminds of the poor EV1’s waiting for the crusher.
… and to add insult to injury they had to ….
wait for it ….. “drive themselves” home .
Delete “home” . Insert “unemployment office” .