Cruise, the Future Is Faraway: The Discovery of a Safer Future with Zero Emissions, Zero Collision and Zero Traffic

Two years ago, General Motors presented a vision for the future that involved “zero crashes, zero traffic, and zero emissions.” Today, the future looks far away.

In an email to employees, the CEO said he still believed strongly in Cruise’s mission and the potential of its disruptive technology to make transportation safer, cleaner and more accessible.

The company subsequently paused driverless operations nationwide, appointed a new chief safety officer, recalled all 950 of its vehicles, and retained an outside group to perform an independent safety audit.

And the resignations may not be over; Dan Kan, a co-founder of Cruise and the company’s chief product officer, is also stepping down, according to a source with knowledge of the events. A spokesperson for the company confirmed the departure.

Going Fast and Breaking: What Will Cruise Do if Self-driving Vehicles Arrive in the U.S. Coast Guard?

Most automakers have already dialed back their autonomous ambitions. Last year, Ford and Volkswagen stopped providing funding to Argo AI, leading to it cease operations. Toyota’s vision for a futuristic city teeming with self-driving cars has been significantly delayed. As startups struggled through layoffs or were closed, AV investments went down more than half a century ago.

Cruise’s struggles are different to GM. Other car companies have sought to put some distance between themselves and the startups working on self-driving cars. But GM has stayed bullish, insisting that the billions of dollars it was sinking into the technology (GM has lost $8.2 billion on Cruise since 2017) would eventually result in a safer future — and a huge payout for the company.

Rather than sitting back and waiting for the cars to come to them, GM wanted to stay in the driver’s seat. And now it has to deal with the fallout when that company’s “move fast and break things” culture has resulted in a crisis.

Taking more of a direct hand in Cruise is the initial goal. Craig Glidden, general counsel of GM, will become the co- president of Cruise along with Mo Elshenawy, who will also become chief technology officer. Jon McNeill had been on the GM board for years and was now the vice chairman of the Cruise board.

There are other options for you to consider. BrightDrop, an electric delivery company, was re-absorbed by GM. Would it be possible for GM to do something like Cruise to make sure corners are not cut and safety remains paramount?

It is not known, but GM has already made sure that layoffs are on the way. Many contract workers who do maintenance and fleet operations for the company have been laid off. Cruise employees are at risk of losing their jobs as well.

“The results of our ongoing reviews will inform additional next steps as we work to build a better Cruise centered around safety, transparency and trust,” the company said in a statement. We’ll continue to advance technology that helps us make transportation safe, cleaner and more accessible.

There could be problems with the deployment of fully self-drive vehicles that carry passengers. The vehicles that carry passengers in cities across the nation could be subject to tighter federal regulation.

The cruise company gave rides for free throughout the day and 100 robotaxis at night when it could charge in less congested parts of San Francisco. Most of the accidents are caused by inattentive or impaired human drivers.

A Brief Message to Cruise Workers on Twitch: “Our Roads are Sucks, but We Are Better Around the Corner”

A co-founded of a service for live streams of entertainment and sports, Vogt attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Amazon acquired Twitch for about $1 billion in 2014.

In a message to Cruise workers posted on X, Vogt said the status quo on our roads is sucks but they have proven there is something better around the corner. He didn’t refer to the company’s recent troubles.