GM tells its Cruise employees 24% of them will be laid off 'through no fault of their own'

Table Of Content

• Cruise lays off nearly a quarter of its staff after grounding its robotaxi fleet
• After Project Shutdowns, Apple Layoffs Decision to Affect 700 Employees
• FEATURED POSTS
• GM's Cruise slashes contractor roles after driverless car suspension
• GM tells its Cruise employees 24% of them will be laid off 'through no fault of their own'

The Cruise car dragged the woman some 20 feet before pulling to the curb, causing severe injuries. Regulators accused Cruise of omitting footage of its car dragging the woman from a video that it provided to state officials. Barra reiterated plans for Cruise to be more “deliberate” when operations eventually resume at the troubled self-driving vehicle subsidiary.

Cruise lays off nearly a quarter of its staff after grounding its robotaxi fleet

New boss at SF's Cruise mourns low morale while planning layoffs, report says - SFGATE

New boss at SF's Cruise mourns low morale while planning layoffs, report says.

Posted: Wed, 06 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]

I am so sorry we have to do this by email, as I would prefer that we have a conversation with each of you. Unfortunately, given the scale of this change, this approach allows us to communicate to those who are impacted at the same time. We know you will want to say goodbye to your colleagues, so you will have access to Cruise email and Zoom for the next couple of hours (until 10am PT). A Cruise representative also told CNBC that the company's goal is now to work on a fully driverless L4 service, as well as relaunching ride-hailing in one city to start. This latest development comes after Cruise confirmed Wednesday that nine senior leaders "departed Cruise" as a result of the ongoing safety investigation and its aftermath. In a statement, Cruise said the employees being let go worked mostly in commercial operations and related corporate functions.

After Project Shutdowns, Apple Layoffs Decision to Affect 700 Employees

The cuts are part of a broader restructuring to focus the robotaxi unit on a narrower path to commercialization. Instead of expanding its commercial robotaxi service to multiple US cities, the company will relaunch its currently paused service in just one. Cruise issued Wednesday a recall for 950 vehicles equipped with its autonomous vehicle software following the October 2 crash that left a pedestrian, who had initially been hit by a human-driven car, stuck under and then dragged by one of the company’s robotaxis.

FEATURED POSTS

McNeill, who joined the Cruise board recently and was previously chief operating officer at Lyft and president of Tesla, now serves alongside GM Chair and CEO Mary Barra. Cruise stopped its driverless taxi operations across all its fleets right after that "to rebuild public trust" after losing the ability to operate in California. In November, the GM-owned Cruise recalled all of its 950 self-driving systems after one vehicle dragged a pedestrian struck by another car.

Those who were laid off will remain on payroll through February 12th and are eligible for an additional eight weeks of pay. Long-term employees are being offered an additional two weeks’ pay per every year at Cruise over three years. Everyone will receive an end-of-the-year bonus, as well as extended medical and dental coverage, immigration support, and other benefits. Most of the job cuts are in corporate and commercial roles, which have become less important since the company voluntarily suspended all its driverless operations across the country in October. The shut down came two days after California’s Department of Motor Vehicles said that the company “misrepresented” its technology and ordered Cruise to stop operating in the state. Prior to the crash, the company also operated robotaxi services in Austin, Texas, and Phoenix, Arizona, and had plans to launch in Houston, Dallas, and Miami, among other cities.

On Wednesday, Cruise fired nine executives, including its chief operating officer and chief legal and policy officer amid an external investigation led by law firm Quinn Emmanuel into the accident and Cruise’s response. Cruise’s board of directors held a regularly-scheduled meeting at the company’s San Francisco headquarters this past Monday. Following that meeting, the company put out a series of announcements indicating that it would “further steps to enhance safety and transparency,” including hiring a new executive and expanding its outside investigation into the circumstances of its fateful October 2 incident.

Company says it now will focus on just 1 market for driverless taxis before scaling up

"This is one of the hardest days we’ve had so far because so many talented people are leaving," Elshenawy wrote. "On behalf of the (senior leadership team), the Cruise Board and GM, I’m truly grateful to everyone who has played a role in building Cruise and who has poured so much into the promise of making our roads safer and our world better." Weeks following the October mishap, California’s department of motor vehicles in effect shut down the robotaxi service by suspending its license to operate in the state.

The company intended to shift toward a custom-built autonomous vehicle called the Origin. GM said in the post that laid off workers will get pay through April 8, "plus continued subsidized health benefits, RSU vesting, the January 5 bonus, and additional immigration support for those holding work visas" will continue to be factors. On Wednesday, as first reported by Reuters,, the company said it had parted with nine top executives, including leaders in legal, government affairs, commercial operations, and safety and systems, as part of a safety review triggered by the San Francisco crash.

GM tells its Cruise employees 24% of them will be laid off 'through no fault of their own'

Videos of Cruise robotaxis blocking traffic and driving into a construction site were shared on social media. But it was a crash with an emergency response vehicle that began to chip away at the company’s seemingly impenetrable exterior. The discontinuation of Cruise’s RLO program comes amid an ongoing crisis at the company.

In response, several top executives have left the company, including co-founder and CEO Kyle Vogt and chief product officer Dan Kan. Nine more executive were dismissed yesterday, including chief legal and policy officer Jeff Bleich and senior vice president of government affairs David Estrada. Cruise’s troubles can be traced to an Oct. 2 crash when a car hit a woman at an intersection in San Francisco and flung her into the path of one of Cruise’s driverless taxis.

Former Cruise employees have told Forbes that they understood that it was meant to shore up company morale in 2022 and demonstrate to the company’s workforce that GM backed Cruise so much that it was willing to be a regular private buyer of the stock. On Thursday, Cruise abruptly ended a program allowing employees and alumni to sell company stock back to its corporate parent, General Motors. Both current and former workers were informed in a company-wide email sent around 9 a.m. Earlier this month, the Free Press reported that a California administrative law judge ordered Cruise to explain why it it should not be fined for "misleading" California regulators for initially failing to disclose that the car dragged the woman 20 feet before it stopped. "We are confident in the team and committed to supporting Cruise as they set the company up for long-term success with a focus on trust, accountability and transparency," Ridella said. GM has been investing in Cruise since 2016 to the tune of about $8 billion so far, the Free Press has reported.

Cruise today vs Cruise moving forwardAs we've shared, our goal is to focus our work on a fully driverless L4 service that meets a new AV performance bar, prioritize the Bolt platform, relaunch ridehail in one city to start, and enhance our safety standards and processes before we scale. We are ceasing work on the Origin MY24 but not losing sight of our work on future programs. This is very different from our prior plans to expand into more than a dozen new cities in 2024. The company had 3,800 employees before Thursday's cuts, which also follow a round of contractor layoffs at Cruise last month. Affected employees will receive paychecks until Feb. 12 and at least an additional eight weeks of pay, plus severance based on tenure.

Laid-off workers will stay on payroll until Feb. 12 and are eligible for an additional 8 weeks of pay, with long-time workers being offered an additional 2 weeks' pay for every year at Cruise over three years. The materials note results from simulated tests in which a Cruise vehicle is in the vicinity of a small child. “Based on the simulation results, we can’t rule out that a fully autonomous vehicle might have struck the child,” reads one assessment. In another test drive, a Cruise vehicle successfully detected a toddler-sized dummy but still struck it with its side mirror at 28 miles per hour. Cruise’s decision to suspend all trips on public roads last month came after a board meeting at the company’s headquarters. As per a Cruise representative the company’s goal is now to work on a fully driverless L4 service, as well as relaunching ride-hailing in one city to start.

Craig Glidden, the automaker’s executive vice president of legal and policy and a Cruise board member, will serve as a president and continue as chief administrative officer. Jon McNeill, who joined the Cruise board last month, has been appointed vice chairman of the board, serving alongside GM CEO Mary Barra. Days later Cruise paused all of its driverless operations in other markets where it had more limited service, including Austin, Houston and Phoenix. The embattled self-driving car subsidiary of General Motors faces an uncertain future after California regulators shut down its robot taxi service in the state.