San Francisco

Parent company GM puts the breaks on Cruise self-driving cars

Cruise's strategy is to re-launch in one city once multiple safety issues are resolved

NBC Universal, Inc.
More bad news for San Francisco-based robotaxi company Cruise. Its parent company General Motors announced Wednesday a huge cut in funding for Cruise, effectively letting some of the air out of its tires. NBC Bay Area’s business and tech reporter Scott Budman spoke to city leaders, and potential passengers, about what this means.

More bad news for San Francisco-based robotaxi company Cruise.

Its parent company General Motors announced Wednesday plans to cut spending on Cruise by hundreds of millions of dollars in 2024.

Cruise had its self-driving permits pulled by the DMV. It shut down all driverless operations and the CEO of the company stepped down, and customers lost faith.

San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin calls Cruise a case study in how not to run a business.

"Whether it was cars making illegal left turns, whether it was pedestrian safety issues, whether it was cars stopping in the middle of traffic,” he said.

San Franciscans can still pick up a robotaxi as Waymo, owned by Google, is still rolling around. 

"Once we have taken steps to improve our safety culture and rebuild trust, our strategy is to re-launch in one city and prove our performance there, before expanding," Cruise said in a statement.

Cruise would not say if that city is San Francisco, but the company is headquartered in the city, and, with about 3,500 employees, there are questions about the company's size going forward with GM planning to cut its funding.

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