Cruise, a subsidiary of General Motors specializing in semi-autonomous driving systems, is facing a rather grim future following a series of road incidents and a ban in California. The company has just cut 24% of its staff citing cost-saving reasons, Engadget reports.
According to Mo ElShenawy, GM Cruise President and Technical Director, the staff reductions will only concern the non-engineering departments of the company, like its commercial and corporate divisions, as well as some field staff – a total of 900 employees or so. Everyone will get their severance payments and other benefits. He added that the company would like to say a sincere thanks to these employees for their work.
Back in November, GM CEO Mary Barra announced financing cuts for the Cruise division in 2024 reaching hundreds of millions of USD. Immediately following that announcement, Cruise fired nine of its key executives.
Moving forward, the autonomous driving tech company plans to take a more careful and measured approach to its business. In all likelihood, self-driving car tests will be limited to just one city now, and while the overall operational expenses are going to remain on the same level, commercialization of the autopilot systems is no longer the first priority.
Cruise had its last severe incident in San Francisco in early October. An autonomous vehicle failed to stop in front of a woman who had been hit by another car moments earlier, and proceeded to drag her under the wheels as it attempted to park itself at the curb. A serious investigation has been launched into the incident.