
General Motors announced it will stop funding its Cruise robotaxi project, citing competition, costs, and time required to scale the business. GM will instead focus on developing advanced driver assistance technologies and autonomous systems for personal vehicles, merging Cruise's technical team with its own. GM spent over $10B on Cruise since acquiring it in 2016 and expects to save roughly $1B annually from the restructuring.
The decision follows a series of challenges for Cruise, including an October 2023 incident where one of its vehicles struck and dragged a pedestrian, leading to federal regulatory scrutiny and operational setbacks. Amid the fallout, Cruise cofounder and CEO Kyle Vogt resigned, and Cruise laid off 900 employees, or about 24% of its workforce. Last month, Cruise paid a $500K criminal fine for submitting a false report related to the October 2023 incident.
In other auto news, Amazon launched an online dealership with South Korea's Hyundai as its first partner. Consumers in 48 US cities can browse, order, finance, and pick up new Hyundai vehicles through Amazon.
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