General Motors (GM), an American automaker, has withdrawn from the robotaxi business. Accordingly, it has laid off half of its workers who perform related tasks. GM essentially declared its withdrawal from the cruise industry last December when it said it would no longer invest in Cruises because of the heightened competition in the robotaxi business.
According to a Bloomberg report on Tuesday, Craig Glidden, president and Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of GM’s autonomous driving subsidiary Cruise, emailed employees to inform them about the decision to cut the company’s workforce by about half.
Glidden also disclosed that several top executives, including CEO Mark Whitten, are expected to resign within the week.
GM’s withdrawal from the robotaxi business, which was considered a pioneer alongside Google’s Waymo, shocked the industry. Since acquiring the robotaxi startup Cruise in 2016, GM has invested over $10 billion in it.
Industry observers speculate that Tesla’s announcement last October to enter the robo-taxi business with its “Cybercab” concept may have influenced GM’s decision to exit the business.
That same day, GM issued a press statement declaring that it had successfully acquired all of Cruise’s remaining shares and incorporated the company as a wholly owned subsidiary. According to GM, Cruise’s autonomous driving technology will eventually be incorporated into the Super Cruise autonomous driving system for GM-manufactured vehicles.
