By Steven Symes 
In an announcement that’s shocked many, GM has said it will no longer provide funding for Cruise, its robotaxi service. Instead, the automaker says it’s pouring resources into autonomous driving and driver assistance technologies for passenger vehicles sold to private individuals.
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GM currently owns around 90 percent of Cruise and announced it’s working to acquire all of the remaining shares. However, the automaker won’t fund development work for robotaxis anymore, with plans to fold the Cruise team into the GM technical teams.
This move is interesting considering the incoming Trump Administration is showing signs of being rather warm to autonomous driving tech, possibly opening the doors for robotaxis to be used in even more US cities.
There’s another factor some seem to be missing in this story. Cruise has been in the middle of numerous controversies, but the latest one might have contributed to GM’s pulling funding. The robotaxi service was just hit with a $500,000 criminal fine from the federal government for submitting a false crash report.
That comes from an incident in San Francisco back in October 2023 when a Cruise robotaxi hit a woman after she was struck by another vehicle while crossing the road. The autonomous car dragged the victim for 20 feet before it finally stopped, casting some doubt on the safety of robotaxis.
Cruise vehicles have been involved in other controversies, including being blamed for creating traffic congestion in cities. Other robotaxi services have also been involved in interesting situations some have blamed on the tech not being fully ironed out.
Of course, GM is going to cast this move in a positive light, saying it will allow for developing better autonomous systems like Super Cruise. Considering Mercedes-Benz is selling Level 3 autonomous vehicles to consumers in the US, plus Tesla is perceived by many as being advanced in that area, the company has a lot of progress to make.
Image via Cruise