A Cruise vehicle in San Francisco, California, on Wednesday Feb. 2, 2022.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Cruise, the autonomous vehicle startup owned by General Motors, has temporarily halted its driverless operations following multiple collisions, ongoing investigations, regulatory disagreements, and the suspension of its licenses in California earlier this week.
Founded by CEO Kyle Vogt in 2013, Cruise had previously launched driverless operations in San Francisco, Austin, Phoenix, Houston, Dallas, and Miami.
On Tuesday, GM announced that Cruise has incurred losses of approximately $1.9 billion through September this year, including $732 million in the third quarter alone. Simultaneously, the California Department of Motor Vehicles suspended Cruise’s deployment and testing permits in the state.
The suspensions by the DMV followed a series of safety concerns and incidents since Cruise received approval in August for its 24/7 robotaxi service in San Francisco. The California Public Utilities Commission also revoked Cruise’s license to transport and charge passengers in its robotaxis within the state.
In an incident in early October, a pedestrian was struck by another vehicle driven by a human, causing her to be propelled into the path of a Cruise self-driving car. According to DMV records obtained by CNBC, the Cruise autonomous vehicle came to a complete stop and “subsequently attempted to perform a pullover maneuver while the pedestrian was underneath the vehicle.”
The DMV record stated, “The AV traveled approximately 20 feet and reached a speed of 7 mph before coming to a subsequent and final stop,” and “the pedestrian remained under the vehicle.” The DMV stated in its suspension orders to Cruise that “the manufacturer’s vehicles are not safe for the public’s operation” and “may lack the ability to respond in a safe and appropriate manner during incidents involving a pedestrian.”
On LinkedIn on Thursday night, Cruise made the following statement:
“The most important thing for us right now is to take steps to rebuild public trust. Part of this involves taking a hard look inwards and at how we do work at Cruise, even if it means doing things that are uncomfortable or difficult.
In that spirit, we have decided to proactively pause driverless operations across all of our fleets while we take time to examine our processes, systems, and tools and reflect on how we can better operate in a way that will earn public trust.
This decision is not a response to any new on-road incidents, and supervised AV operations will continue. We believe it is the right thing to do during a period when we need to be extra vigilant regarding risk, safety, and rebuilding public trust.”
The decision comes just two days after GM CEO Mary Barra reiterated the automaker’s belief that Cruise vehicles are safer than human drivers.
During a third-quarter earnings call, Barra stated, “We believe that Cruise has tremendous opportunity to grow and expand. Safety will be our key consideration as we continue to work with the cities in which we deploy.” She expressed GM’s commitment to supporting Cruise’s expansion.
Barra highlighted Cruise as an example of the company’s commitment to “defining the future of transportation,” stating that the self-driving venture is consistently pushing the boundaries of what autonomous vehicle technology can achieve for society. She emphasized that safety is always a top priority and that Cruise is continuously improving in this aspect.
Cruise will continue to operate its autonomous vehicles with human safety drivers present to oversee the drives, according to the company’s announcement on Thursday.
A GM spokesperson referred all inquiries to
