General Motors said on Tuesday it would no longer fund Cruise’s robo-taxi development efforts, citing “capital allocation priorities,” the “significant time and resources required to expand the business, and increasing competition in the robo-taxi market.”
The Detroit automaker plans to “refocus its autonomous driving strategy” to focus on advanced driver assistance systems and self-driving systems for personal vehicles, and will merge majority-owned Cruise LLC and General Motors Technologies team.
This summer, the Detroit automaker said it would indefinitely delay production of its Origin self-driving cars as its Cruise self-driving unit attempts to restart operations. Cruise has since focused on developing self-driving cars using the next-generation Chevrolet Bolt.
in the united states letterGeneral Motors Co.’s Waymo has begun operating commercial robotaxi services in several major metro areas, while General Motors Co.’s Cruise has faltered. Chinese autonomous vehicle manufacturers such as Pony.ai and WeRide are also venturing into overseas markets.
TeslaAt the same time, the design concept of the autonomous driving Cybercab was demonstrated at the October event. Tesla still classifies the Autopilot and full self-driving software in its vehicles as “partially autonomous systems,” which require humans to be ready to steer or brake at all times. During an earnings call in October, Tesla CEO Musk said the company would launch a self-driving ride-hailing service in California and Texas as early as 2025.
SoftBank-funded Wayve is testing its self-driving cars in San Francisco, and Amazon-owned Zoox is also testing self-driving cars without steering wheels in several U.S. cities, including San Francisco.
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