General Motors announced on Tuesday that it will be investing an additional $850 million into their self-driving division, Cruise. This brings their total investment to over $8 billion, with very little revenue to show for it. GM’s chief financial officer, Paul Jacobson, stated that this new funding will give them time to conduct a strategic review on the division’s future.
Following an incident in October 2023 where a Cruise autonomous car was involved in an accident in San Francisco, California regulators revoked Cruise’s permits and the company voluntarily shut down its fleet. Since then, Cruise has not resumed operations in California. The company’s president and chief technology officer, Mo Elshenawy, informed employees in a December email that Cruise would be taking a slower and more cautious approach moving forward.
Despite the setbacks, Cruise recently restarted supervised driving tests in Phoenix, Arizona, and Dallas with human safety drivers behind the wheel. They also announced plans to expand testing to Houston, making it the third city for their testing phase. Waymo, Cruise’s competitor owned by Google, continues to lead the market in autonomous driving with operations in multiple cities.
Experts, such as Phil Koopman from Carnegie Mellon University, question GM’s decision to continue investing in Cruise without any significant technological advancements. Koopman suggests that GM may be positioning Cruise for sale or considering shutting it down. However, Elshenawy remains optimistic about the future of autonomous vehicles, believing that they will greatly improve safety and efficiency in transportation systems.
Despite facing challenges and a lack of leadership with the departure of co-founder Kyle Vogt in November 2023, Cruise has not named a new CEO but has two presidents overseeing operations. Vogt has since raised $150 million for a new robotics startup. As Cruise works to regain trust and improve their technology, they look towards a future where autonomous vehicles can transform transportation systems for the better.
