Cruise CEO Resigns After Startup's Robotaxis Forced to Stop Operations

Table Of Content

• Cruise vehicles return to streets in select US cities
• Cruise wasn’t hiding the pedestrian-dragging video from regulators — it just had bad internet
• Armed with traffic cones, protesters are immobilizing driverless cars
• How will driverless cars ‘talk’ to pedestrians? Waymo has a few ideas
• Honda and Nissan join forces on electric car technology to chase Chinese rivals
• Latest News

San Francisco-based Cruise is seen as one of the most advanced autonomous driving companies in the world, and it had started charging passengers for journeys in some US cities. However, it paused all of its driverless cars on 26 October after California regulators revoked its licence to transport passengers without a driver after an accident on 2 October. Vogt’s decision to step down, announced late Sunday, follows a recent recall of all 950 Cruise vehicles to update software after one of them dragged a pedestrian to the side of a San Francisco street in early October. The California Department of Motor Vehicles revoked the license for Cruise. "The results of our ongoing reviews will inform additional next steps as we work to build a better Cruise centered around safety, transparency and trust," the company said in a statement. "We will continue to advance AV technology in service of our mission to make transportation safer, cleaner and more accessible."

Cruise vehicles return to streets in select US cities

First, a Nissan Sentra "tragically struck and propelled the pedestrian into the path of the AV," Cruise said in a description of the incident. TechCrunch cites an internal email stating that in the interim, Mo Elshenawy (Cruise's executive vice president of engineering) will serve as president and CTO for the company. Last October, Cruise pulled all of its driverless cars off the streets nationwide. This came weeks after a woman in San Francisco was sent to the hospital after she was seen trapped under an autonomous Cruise vehicle. Other car companies have sought to put some distance between themselves and the startups working on self-driving cars. Last year, Ford and Volkswagen pulled their funding from Argo AI, forcing the company to cease operations.

Cruise wasn’t hiding the pedestrian-dragging video from regulators — it just had bad internet

Vogt posted a thread on Twitter/X, which mostly touted the possibilities for autonomous vehicles and thanked employees. He didn't address any of the recent events leading up to his resignation. GM CEO Mary Barra would routinely invite him to appear on earnings calls or to speak at investor conferences in a sign that the automaker was fully invested in Cruise.

Armed with traffic cones, protesters are immobilizing driverless cars

Cruise co-founder and CEO Kyle Vogt resigns following suspension of operations in S.F. - San Francisco Chronicle

Cruise co-founder and CEO Kyle Vogt resigns following suspension of operations in S.F..

Posted: Mon, 20 Nov 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]

Vogt's decision to step down, announced late Sunday, follows a recent recall of all 950 Cruise vehicles to update software after one of them dragged a pedestrian to the side of a San Francisco street in early October. The CEO of self-driving car firm Cruise resigned yesterday following an accident in which a Cruise robotaxi dragged a pedestrian 20 feet. 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.

Vogt sent out an email Saturday saying that certain employees could sell a limited number of shares in a one-time opportunity. Vogt didn’t provide many details but said the company was developing a plan to conduct a new tender offer to provide restricted stock unit liquidity to mitigate potential tax implications. General Motors' self-driving-car unit, Cruise, is shaking up its leadership after the company lost permits needed to operate in California and paused its operations. General Motors’ self-driving-car unit, Cruise, is shaking up its leadership after the company lost permits needed to operate in California and paused its operations. The company recently announced one of GM’s lawyers would expand his role within Cruise. Then Motherboard reported Cruise’s first email to California’s DMV after the accident didn’t mention the whole dragging part.

The startup I launched in my garage has given over 250,000 driverless rides across several cities, with each ride inspiring people with a small taste of the future. 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. Following a series of self-driving car failures, including running over a woman and dragging her 20 feet, Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt resigns, effective immediately. His resignation follows an accident where a pedestrian who was struck by another vehicle became trapped underneath a Cruise robotaxi, which dragged her as it attempted to pull over.

Cruise Cofounder Dan Kan Resigns Following CEO's Departure - Forbes

Cruise Cofounder Dan Kan Resigns Following CEO's Departure.

Posted: Mon, 20 Nov 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]

CEOs in Monday's virtual meeting made the case to U.S. health officials that by requiring vaccinations and negative Covid tests for everybody on board, passengers could sail safely, the sources said. One attendee, who didn't want to be identified, described the meeting as "encouraging." Its full announcement about resuming manual-driving operations can be viewed in the press release posted on Cruise’s website. 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.

The company recalled nearly 1,000 vehicles to update their software after the incident. Ammann, a former investment banker, began leading Cruise in 2019 after serving as GM's president and chief financial officer before that. "I suspect at least one more high level exec will have to resign — anyone who made the call to obfuscate or omit information in communication with the California DMV," he said.

The company subsequently paused driverless operations nationwide, appointed a new chief safety officer, recalled all 950 of its vehicles, and retained an outside group to perform an independent safety audit. Vogt confirmed his resignation Sunday night in a social media post on X, formerly known as Twitter. He did not give a reason for the resignation, and said he plans "to spend time with my family and explore some new ideas."

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. In one serious incident in October, the human driver of another vehicle struck a pedestrian in San Francisco at night, tossing her into the path of a Cruise self-driving car, which then drove over and dragged her. "Today I resigned from my position as CEO of Cruise," co-founder Kyle Vogt wrote in a post on twitter.com. "The startup I launched in my garage has given over 250,000 driverless rides across several cities, with each ride inspiring people with a small taste of the future," he also wrote.

That's a big move for autonomous vehicles, which are usually heavily constrained to daytime hours with less traffic. But it seems Cruise wasn't prepared to expand its services so quickly. Days later, Cruise vehicles began stopping in the middle of the road, blocking traffic.

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. A video, which TechCrunch viewed a day after the incident, showed the robotaxi braking aggressively and coming to a stop over the woman. The DMV’s order of suspension stated that Cruise withheld about seven seconds of video footage, which showed the robotaxi then attempting to pull over and subsequently dragging the woman 20 feet. In October, the California Department of Motor Vehicles suspended the company's operating permit, citing concerns about risks to public safety. The agency alleged the self-driving-car company, which reportedly had roughly 400 cars operating in San Francisco, withheld video of a Cruise robotaxi dragging a person down a street. Later that month, Cruise suspended operations across all of its fleets and said it was working to strengthen public trust.

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. 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. Jon McNeill, a member of GM’s board, has been appointed vice chairman of the Cruise board. McNeill, who joined the Cruise board recently and was previously chief operating officer at Lyft and president of Tesla, will now serve alongside Cruise Board Chair Mary Barra.