General Motors’ autonomous vehicle division, Cruise, said that it will start running robotaxis once again. However, it plans to relaunch in just one American city to rebuild public trust, before expanding to other locations.
The company was one of the autonomous vehicle industry’s leading lights until a handful of highly publicized accidents prompted California regulators to suspend its testing license. After that, it ceased all testing and its CEO, Kyle Vogt, and chief product officer, Daniel Kan, stepped down. Now, Cruise appears to be looking to rebuild.
“Once we have taken steps to improve our safety culture and rebuild trust, our strategy is to re-launch in one city and prove our performance there, before expanding,” the company said, per Reuters. The automaker did not reveal what city it would start running robotaxis in.
However, Phoenix, Arizona, and Austin, Texas, may be appealing choices for it. Regulators there have proven to be accommodating to autonomous vehicle testing, and the automaker operated vehicles there before it halted nationwide testing.
Read: Cruise CEO Quits In Wake Of Safety-Related Self-Driving Shutdown
It’s not all good news for Cruise, though. It also told staff that it will be cutting some jobs. These will be “primarily in non-engineering roles,” and the company says it will provide more details in mid-December.
In addition, GM announced that it has changed its production plans for the Origin, reports Autonews. The purpose-built robotaxi has no steering wheel or pedals, and is the centerpiece of Cruise’s plans long-term plans. However, the automaker said that it will not produce prototypes or production examples of the vehicle in 2024. It did not provide an updated manufacturing timeline.
How Cruise moves forward from here will be important not just for its own future, but GM’s too. Its work with autonomous technology was an important pillar of CEO Mary Barra’s plan to double GM’s revenue. However, it has so far been a money pit, costing the automaker $700 million in the third quarter of 2023 alone. Investors say they are watching closely to see how big of a problem Cruise’s downfall is for the automaker.
