A Call to GM on the Problem of Driving an Autonomous Vehicle: On the Suspension of the Cruise Driver’s License

When it finishes acquiring the remaining shares, GM anticipates achieving cost savings of $1 billion annually, GM chief financial officer Paul Jacobson said.

GM will work with Cruise’s leadership in order to restructure the company and change its operations to focus on driver assist systems. The company expects the changes to reduce expenditures by more than $1 billion annually.

The embarrassing incident resulted in Cruise’s license to operate its driverless fleet in California being suspended by regulators and triggered a purge of its leadership — in addition to layoffs that jettisoned about a quarter of its workforce.

GM found out that the deployment and maintaining of a fleet of taxis is too expensive and far away from the manufacturer’s core business of building and selling cars.

“Given the considerable time and expense required to scale a robotaxi business in an increasingly competitive market, combining forces would be more efficient and therefore consistent with our capital allocation priorities,” Barra said on the call.

The Super Cruise partially automated driver assist system will be developed by the Detroit automaker as it focuses on development of personal vehicles.

Eventually, GM intends to sell “level 4” vehicles to car buyers, which can drive completely autonomously on some but not all roads. In order for people to drive their own vehicles, they must not be in every situation.

Cruise Plans for 2026: The Case for a Self-Driving Vehicle without a Navigation Wheel at the Cologne-based Linear Collider

GM said that Cruise has 2,300 employees and will retain a presence in San Francisco. The restructuring will be completed next year and it’s too early to talk about employment levels.

Richardson said Cruise would bring its software, artificial intelligence, and sensor development to GM to work on improving their driver assist systems.

Plans to expand the service beyond the metropolitan areas of Phoenix, San Francisco and Los Angeles have been accelerated. Last week the company said it would begin testing its driverless Jaguars in Miami next year, with plans to start charging for rides in 2026.

Musk said that his company is going to have self driving vehicles next year. Robotaxis without steering wheels using Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” system would be available in 2026 starting in California and Texas, he said.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration looked into Full Self-Driving’s ability to see in low visibility conditions, and it cast a doubt on whether the vehicles are ready to be deployed without humans in the driver’s seat.

The move is another step back from autonomous vehicles, which have proved far harder to develop than companies once anticipated. Ford Motor Co. made a decision two years ago to abandon its self-driving car venture in Pittsburgh.

Over the years GM invested billions in the subsidiary and eventually bought 90% of the company from investors, all while racking up millions in losses.