Leo PortalIn a nutshell:
- According to a post on X, previously Online, Kyle Vogt, co-founder and CEO of General Motors ‘ automatic driving unit Cruise, announced his resignation from the business on Sunday.
- According to an email that GM CEO Mary Barra sent to employees and that was reported by Reuters, Craig Glidden, executive vice president of legal and policy at General Manager ( GM ), Cruise’s chief administrative officer, and a board member, will now hold the position of co-president.
- According to Barra’s email, Mo Elshenawy, the executive president of engineering and co-president at Cruise, will take on the roles of vice president and chief technology officer.
Obtain Insight:
In order to launch a ride-hailing service that is comparable to Uber, Cruise has been testing its self-driving cars in San Francisco and different American cities for the past few years.  ,
Cruise was the second business to receive permission from the California Public Utilities Commission in June 2021 to offer passenger test rides in its self-driving cars without a safety driver in the driver’s seat. The Department of Motor Vehicles in California simply granted a permit for Cruise to operate its robotaxi vehicles on public roads in the state without safety drivers on board, along with Waymo, Mercedes-Benz, and Nuro.  ,
Chevy Bolt EVs and the Cruise Origin shuttle, which Honda and Cruise co-developed, are part of the cruise robotaxi fleet. The Detroit News reported in February that GM intended to launch 5,000 Origin shuttles across the country.
A robotic ride hailing service will be introduced in Japan beginning in early 2026, according to plans made by Cruise and Honda next month to form a new joint venture company.
However, after one of the vehicles struck a pedestrian in downtown San Francisco in early October, Cruise’s fleet of robotaxis was grounded in California last month as state regulators assessed their safety. Numerous investigations into the safety of Cruise’s self-driving vehicles were conducted as a result of the incident.
Following reports of walking injuries, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also began a preliminary assessment of Cruise’s automatic vehicles.
Vogt wrote,” As CEO, I take responsibility for the situation Cruise is in today,” in the email that Reuters reported. There are no justifications, and what has happened is not covered in sugar. On safety, transparency, and community involvement, we need to go above and beyond.
Over the years, GM made significant investments in Cruise, which Vogt co-founded in 2013. When the company was still a relatively unknown startup developing autonomous driving technology in 2016, the automaker invested about$ 1 billion in it. The$ 2.1 billion stake in Cruise was then purchased by GM by SoftBank in March 2022. The company’s investment was made in part to launch its unique self-driving technology project.
According to Reuters, Barra predicted that Cruise could bring in$ 50 billion in revenue by 2030.  ,
Vogt wrote on X,” The past ten years have been remarkable, and I’m glad to everyone who helped Cruise along the way.” Over 250, 000 autonomous rides have been provided by the startup I started in my garage across several cities, and each ride has given riders a tiny taste of the future.
Glidden will take on a new position as chief administrative officer for Cruise, according to an announcement made by Cruise next week, to assist the business in handling various safety probes. At the time, Cruise stated that Glidden would collaborate attentively on transparency and community engagement at Cruise with Vogt and other senior leaders.  ,
However, following Vogt’s abrupt resignation on Sunday, Glidden and Elshenawy will then co-president Cruise, according to Reuters. Along with Barra, who serves as chair, GM director and past Tesla President Jon McNeill was also appointed vice chairman of the Cruise board.
As we work to make transportation safer, cleaner, and more accessible, Barra said in the email,” We continue to have a strong belief in Cruise’s mission and the potential of its transformative technology.”
