Vogt resigns as CEO of Cruise following safety questions, recalls of self-driving vehicles

Table Of Content

• Renault to sell 5% stake to Nissan as carmakers rebalance alliance
• UK new car sales reach highest February figure in 20 years
• Self-driving car users could watch films on motorway under new DfT proposals
• GM's Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt resigns from company
• Products
• Vogt resigns as CEO of Cruise following safety questions, recalls of self-driving vehicles

Other car companies have sought to put some distance between themselves and the startups working on self-driving cars. But GM has stayed bullish, insisting that the billions of dollars it was sinking into the technology (GM has lost $8.2 billion on Cruise since 2017) would eventually result in a safer future — and a huge payout for the company. Cruise was hit with an indefinite suspension by the California DMV covering both its testing and deployment permits for autonomous robotaxis. The suspension in the state came during an ongoing investigation into an incident involving one of the vehicles in October.

Renault to sell 5% stake to Nissan as carmakers rebalance alliance

Mo Elshenawy, who previously served as executive vice president of engineering at Cruise, will now serve as president and chief technology officer for Cruise, the company said. Dan Ammann, the CEO of Cruise, the autonomous vehicle company that is a wholly owned subsidiary of General Motors, is stepping down, the automaker announced late Thursday. Kyle Vogt, the co-founder of Cruise and its chief technology officer, will take over as interim CEO. Barra ousted Dan Ammann as Cruise CEO in December 2021, replacing him with Vogt, who at the time was chief technology officer. Ammann, who had once competed with Barra for the top spot at GM, wanted to keep the focus on robotaxis, while Barra and the GM board wanted to go big, including putting Cruise’s technology in luxury Cadillac vehicles.

UK new car sales reach highest February figure in 20 years

The CEO of General Motors’ self-driving vehicle company Cruise has announced his resignation just weeks after the company shuttered operations of its fleet to review safety procedures. Cruise was founded in 2013 when vehicle automation looked like a surefire near-future technology. While pioneer Tesla pledged to have a driverless vehicle that could cross the country solo by 2017, the closest a publicly sold car has gotten is Mercedes partial eyes-off assist, which only arrived this year. Vehicular autonomy looks further out than ever, and increasingly like a money sink with little potential for payoff—if any at all.

Self-driving car users could watch films on motorway under new DfT proposals

It’s unclear, but GM has already tightened the reins by signaling that layoffs would be coming. Cruise has already laid off many of the contract workers who do maintenance and fleet operations for the company. But now it seems like Cruise employees are at risk of losing their jobs as well. Get a brief on the top business stories of the week, plus CEO interviews, market updates, tech and money news that matters to you. Vogt said in his resignation announcement that "the status quo on our roads sucks, but together we’ve proven there is something far better around the corner" and that he is planning to now spend time with his family and "explore some new ideas." What was one of automated driving’s industry leaders is still losing money, and now, employees are reportedly losing hope too.

Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt resigns from GM-owned robotaxi unit

Kyle Vogt Resigns As CEO Of GM’s Cruise Robotaxi Unit - Forbes

Kyle Vogt Resigns As CEO Of GM’s Cruise Robotaxi Unit.

Posted: Sun, 19 Nov 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]

The agency said the vehicles "may engage in inappropriately hard braking or become immobilized." The accident on 2 October proved that driverless technology still has some way to go before it is rolled out more widely. Another car knocked a pedestrian into the path of a Cruise car, which initially stopped before driving another 6 metres (20ft), dragging the pedestrian along and seriously injuring her. 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. Former Tesla and Lyft executive Jon McNeill, a member of GM's board of directors since 2022, was appointed vice chairman of the self-driving unit's board after Vogt's resignation.

Vogt and Kan, who more recently held the chief product officer role, founded the autonomous vehicle company in 2013. Initially, the pair had focused on kits that could retrofit a vehicle and turn it into a self-driving car. GM took interest and acquired the company in March 2016 in a deal of cash and stock valued at more than $1 billion. 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.

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. 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. The initial layoffs included contract workers who had jobs cleaning, charging and maintaining the vehicles as well as answering customer support inquiries.

(Reuters) - - Kyle Vogt, the CEO of General Motors' robot-taxi unit Cruise, has resigned from the company a day after apologizing to staff as the company undergoes a safety review of its U.S. fleet. The company recalled nearly 1,000 vehicles to update their software after the incident. The founder of General Motors-owned Cruise has stepped down less than a month after the driverless car company paused operations after an accident and the loss of permission to operate in California. The Cruise vehicle then moved "rightward before braking aggressively, but still made contact with the pedestrian," the company said. "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.

Mo Elshenawy, Cruise’s executive vice president of engineering, will become president and chief technology officer. It said Craig Glidden also will serve as president and continue as chief administrative officer for Cruise, an appointment announced earlier. Mo Elshenawy, Cruise's executive vice president of engineering, will become president and chief technology officer. The troubled self-driving car unit didn’t announce a new CEO but said Mo Elshenawy, currently executive vice president of engineering, will serve as president and chief technology officer. The California Department of Motor Vehicles suspended Cruise's deployment and testing permits for its autonomous vehicles after that incident. "When there is an unreasonable risk to public safety, the DMV can immediately suspend or revoke permits," the regulators said in a statement at the time.

California officials accused Cruise of withholding key information and video after the accident, and the company's self-driving operations are on hold while federal authorities investigate. Barra reportedly told employees that GM general counsel Craig Glidden will serve as Cruise’s co-president alongside Mo Elshenawy, who will also become chief technology officer. Former Tesla president Jon McNeill, who’s been a board member at GM for several years, was named vice chairman of the Cruise board alongside Barra.

"As for what's next for me, I plan to spend time with my family and explore some new ideas. Thanks for the great ride!" Vogt wrote. By Andrew J. Hawkins, transportation editor with 10+ years of experience who covers EVs, public transportation, and aviation. On top of that, Cruise continues to hemorrhage cash, losing $728 million in Q3 and $8 billion since inception according to Reuters. GM CEO Mary Barra has remained supportive of Cruise, but GM's technical partner Honda has reportedly frozen further investment in the firm.

According to the Times, the company “put a priority on the speed of the program over safety.” In many ways, it echoes Uber’s infamous approach to self-driving cars, which cut corners on safety in order to get more cars on the road. Eventually, an Uber self-driving car killed a woman crossing the street in Arizona, which resulted in the company shuttering the whole division. Last year, Ford and Volkswagen pulled their funding from Argo AI, forcing the company to cease operations. Toyota’s vision for a futuristic city teeming with self-driving cars has been significantly delayed. In 2022, AV investments went down nearly 60 percent year over year as startups struggled through layoffs or outright closures.

“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,” Barra stated in an email to employees, according to TechCrunch. And the resignations may not be over; Dan Kan, a co-founder of Cruise and the company’s chief product officer, is also stepping down, according to a source with knowledge of the events. "The most important thing for us right now is to take steps to rebuild public trust," Cruise said in a post on X at the time. "Part of this involves taking a hard look inwards at how we do work at Cruise, even if it means doing things that are uncomfortable or difficult." The announcement comes after Cruise said in late October that it is pausing operations of its driverless fleet throughout the U.S. following a suspension by the state of California.