Table Of Content
- A Cruise car hit a pedestrian. The company’s response could set back California’s new robotaxi industry
- Vogt resigns as CEO of Cruise following safety concerns over self-driving vehicles
- After robotaxi dragged pedestrian 20 feet, Cruise founder and CEO resigns
- Lucid slashes prices for its luxury EVs for the third time in seven months
- Cruise co-founder and CEO Kyle Vogt resigns
- GM names Cruise co-founder to once again run the self-driving business after CEO's unexpected departure
- How will driverless cars ‘talk’ to pedestrians? Waymo has a few ideas
Queenie Wong is a state politics reporter covering tech and entertainment policy for the Los Angeles Times. Previously, she wrote about social media companies for CNET and the Mercury News. She also covered politics and education for the Statesman Journal in Salem, Ore. Growing up in Southern California, she started reading The Times as a kid and took her first journalism class in middle school.
A Cruise car hit a pedestrian. The company’s response could set back California’s new robotaxi industry
How Cruise CEO's resignation affects its robotaxis on SF streets - San Francisco Chronicle
How Cruise CEO's resignation affects its robotaxis on SF streets.
Posted: Tue, 21 Nov 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]
GM outlined a bullish autonomous vehicle plan at its October investor day and its branded “Under the Hood” event the following month. Kyle Vogt, who co-founded the autonomous vehicle company, and was the company’s first CEO, will take over the role on an interim basis. Wesley Bush, the former chairman and CEO of Northrop Grumman and a GM board member, will join the Cruise board, GM said. The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on October 16 opened an investigation into Cruise vehicles after receiving reports of two pedestrian injuries, including the October 2 incident. The Cruise cars "may not have exercised appropriate caution around pedestrians in the roadway," the agency said.
Vogt resigns as CEO of Cruise following safety concerns over self-driving vehicles
She graduated from Washington and Lee University, where she studied journalism and studio art. And while Ammann continued to push the company to expand, there were missed targets, notably the plan to launch a commercial robotaxi business in 2019. The company has spent the past two years inching toward that commercialization goal, along with the rest of the industry, which has gone through a spate of consolidation.
After robotaxi dragged pedestrian 20 feet, Cruise founder and CEO resigns
Vogt's resignation comes roughly two years after he was reappointed as CEO, following an unexpected departure by Dan Ammann, a former GM executive, in December 2021. GM acquired Cruise in 2016 to speed up its self-driving car development program. Ammann, who was then the president of GM, oversaw the acquisition and later assumed the role of CEO of the company. On Monday, co-founder and Chief Product Officer Daniel Kan also resigned, the company said. General Motors’ self-driving-car unit, Cruise, is shaking up its leadership after the company lost permits needed to operate in California and paused its operations. Separately, Cruise’s go-to-market VP Lucas Watson left the company last week, according to several sources with direct knowledge.
Lucid slashes prices for its luxury EVs for the third time in seven months
In orders of suspension the California DMV issued to Cruise, the regulators accused the company of failing to give a transparent account of what happened during the pedestrian collision. Since acquiring Cruise, GM has invested billions in its operations and brought on investors including Honda Motor, Softbank Vision Fund and, more recently, Walmart and Microsoft. In naming a new CEO of self-driving company Cruise Monday, majority-owner General Motors is handing the firm back to one of its original founders.
"The AV detected a collision, bringing the vehicle to a stop; then attempted to pull over to avoid causing further road safety issues, pulling the individual forward approximately 20 feet." On Saturday, one day before resigning, Vogt reportedly apologized to staff in an email. Late last year, U.S. safety regulators said they were investigating reports that autonomous robotaxis run by Cruise can stop too quickly or unexpectedly quit moving, potentially stranding passengers. In one serious incident in October, the human driver of another vehicle struck a pedestrian in San Francisco at night, tossing her into the path of a Cruise self-driving car, which then drove over and dragged her. The resignation is a stunning fall from prominence for one of the tech industry’s most outspoken champions of self-driving cars. He leaves behind a company in deep crisis and an industry that is confronting increased public and regulatory scrutiny.
Vogt wanted Cruise to dominate the market much in the same way that Uber dominated Lyft. But in truth, Uber’s failed effort to launch driverless cars turned out to be way more instructive. Other car companies have sought to put some distance between themselves and the startups working on self-driving cars.
GM names Cruise co-founder to once again run the self-driving business after CEO's unexpected departure
Cruise is in the midst of securing final approval to commercialize a ride-hailing fleet of autonomous vehicles following years of testing in San Francisco. It's also growing the operation, with plans for the company to generate billions in revenue this decade. Eventually, an Uber self-driving car killed a woman crossing the street in Arizona, which resulted in the company shuttering the whole division. Rather than sit back and let driverless cars come to them eventually, Barra insisted on GM staying 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. "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.
How will driverless cars ‘talk’ to pedestrians? Waymo has a few ideas
Ammann was reportedly let go from Cruise by GM CEO and Chair Mary Barra, who also chairs Cruise's board, over disagreements in strategy, including when to take the company public. Kyle Vogt, who co-founded Cruise and ran the start-up for years following GM's acquisition in 2016, has once again been named CEO of the company. He announced the appointment Monday via social media, and it was later confirmed by a Cruise spokesman.
The Cruise Board understands and respects his decision to resign as CEO, and we wish him well in his next chapter. We continue to believe strongly in Cruise’s mission and the potential of its transformative technology as we look to make transportation safer, cleaner and more accessible. The last 10 years have been amazing, and I’m grateful to everyone who helped Cruise along the way. The startup I launched in my garage has given over 250,000 driverless rides across several cities, with each ride inspiring people with a small taste of the future. Ammann, a former investment banker, began leading Cruise in 2019 after serving as GM's president and chief financial officer before that.
However, more layoffs are expected at the company that employs about 4,000 full-time employees. "I suspect at least one more high level exec will have to resign — anyone who made the call to obfuscate or omit information in communication with the California DMV," he said. "In my opinion, Cruise has been too slow in taking steps to rebuild trust with staff, regulators and the public. Executive departures are table stakes." GM executives, including CEO and Chair Mary Barra, had hoped the startup would be ramping up a driverless transportation network this year, and hoped Cruise would play a notable role in doubling the company's revenue by 2030. The company misled reporters about the facts, and maybe state regulators too. The Cruise vehicle then moved "rightward before braking aggressively, but still made contact with the pedestrian," the company said.
Dan Kan, who co-founded Cruise with Vogt and held a far less public-facing role, has also resigned, TechCrunch has confirmed with sources familiar with the matter. Cruise had been testing 300 robotaxis during the day when it could only give rides for free, and 100 robotaxis at night when it was allowed to charge for rides in less congested parts of San Francisco. Vogt earlier said most collisions were caused by inattentive or impaired human drivers, not the AVs. In October 2021, GM said it expected "new businesses" such as Cruise and its BrightDrop commercial EV business to grow from $2 billion to $80 billion during that timeframe.
Mo Elshenawy, who is currently executive vice president of engineering at Cruise, will serve as president and chief technology officer for Cruise. Craig Glidden will serve as president and continue as chief administrative officer. Jon McNeill, who is a member of GM’s board of directors and Cruise’s board, has been appointed vice chairman of Cruise’s board, the spokesperson said. In a separate internal email, also viewed by TechCrunch, GM Chair and CEO Mary Barra announced that Mo Elshenawy, who is executive vice president of engineering at Cruise, will serve as president and CTO for Cruise. Craig Glidden, a Cruise board member and GM’s EVP of legal and policy who was recently put in charge as chief administrative officer at Cruise, will continue in that role. Jon McNeill, a member of GM’s board, has been appointed vice chairman of the Cruise board.
