The American automobile concern General Motors (Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac) announced the termination of the development of robotaxis within its unprofitable subsidiary Cruise LLC, connecting its technical team to work on autonomous and assisted driving technologies.
GM said in a release that efforts will focus on developing fully autonomous vehicles for personal use.
As Interfax notes, GM refers to “capital allocation priorities” and notes “the significant time and resources that will be required to scale the business.”
GM, which owns about 90% of Cruise, has reached agreements with other shareholders that will allow it to increase its stake in the company to more than 97%. It will also seek to acquire the remaining shares. Subsequently, GM plans to restructure and refocus Cruise’s operations. The implementation of these plans (presumably in the first half of 2025) “will reduce costs by more than $1 billion per year,” the press release says.
GM Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra noted that advances in robotaxi technology will begin to pay off in the future too distant to justify the investment. GM has already spent $10 billion on developments in this direction, writes the New York Times.
According to Mary Barra, GM will focus on technology that allows cars to steer, accelerate and brake under certain conditions without driver input. The goal is to eventually create cars that can drive themselves without human control.