Cruise is in crisis. The GM-owned self-driving subsidiary had its driverless permits suspended in California following a collision with a pedestrian, and now, as a result of that mess, the firm’s CEO has announced he’s stepping down.
Kyle Vogt revealed last night that he had resigned from the company he co-founded in 2013 after weeks of uncertainty at the firm stemming from an accident in early October. Posting the news of his departure on social media site X, Vogt appeared upbeat, saying that ‘the last 10 years have been amazing’ and that ‘Cruise is just getting started and I believe it has a great future ahead.’
But it seems Vogt, who returned for a second run as Cruise CEO in December 2022 following GM exec Dan Amman’s departure, was rather more humble and apologetic in an internal email to staff sent a day earlier.
“As CEO, I take responsibility for the situation Cruise is in today,” he wrote in the email sent on Saturday and revealed by Reuters. “There are no excuses, and there is no sugar coating what has happened. We need to double down on safety, transparency, and community engagement.”
Related: Cruise CEO Apologizes For Failures And Allows Staff To Sell Shares
Today I resigned from my position as CEO of Cruise. (1/5)
— Kyle Vogt (@kvogt) November 20, 2023
The role of Cruise president will now be handled jointly by Mo Elshenawy and Craig Glidden. Elshenawy was previously the company’s executive vice president of engineering and will now take on the top job as well as being chief technology officer, while Glidden, a GM suit and Cruise board member, will continue as chief administrative officer as well as serving as president.
California’s DMV suspended Cruise’s driverless permits in October after a pedestrian was hit and dragged along the ground by one of the company’s self-driving Chevy Bolts. In the wake of the California DMV ban, Cruise voluntarily halted testing in Phoenix, Houston, Austin, Dallas, and Miami.
