Kyle Vogt, Cruise CEO, resigns after safety questions

Table Of Content

• GM-owned Cruise "failed to disclose" full video and key crash details, DMV said.
• Renault to sell 5% stake to Nissan as carmakers rebalance alliance
• Vogt resigns as CEO of Cruise following safety concerns over self-driving vehicles
• More from this stream Self-driving cars: Google and others map the road to automated vehicles
• Tesla pauses German production after Red Sea shipping attacks
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CEOs in Monday's virtual meeting made the case to U.S. health officials that by requiring vaccinations and negative Covid tests for everybody on board, passengers could sail safely, the sources said. One attendee, who didn't want to be identified, described the meeting as "encouraging." Its full announcement about resuming manual-driving operations can be viewed in the press release posted on Cruise’s website. It’s unclear, but GM has already tightened the reins by signaling that layoffs would be coming. Cruise has already laid off many of the contract workers who do maintenance and fleet operations for the company. But now it seems like Cruise employees are at risk of losing their jobs as well.

GM-owned Cruise "failed to disclose" full video and key crash details, DMV said.

The decision came over a month after an incident in which a hit-and-run victim became pinned under a Cruise vehicle and then was dragged 20 feet to the side of the road. As a result, California Department of Motor Vehicles suspended Cruise’s permit to operate driverless cars in the state. The accident, and the consequent licence revocation, was a significant setback for Cruise and for the autonomous driving industry. Companies are racing to develop software capable of driving cars in busy cities while also convincing regulators and the public that it can be safer than human drivers.

Renault to sell 5% stake to Nissan as carmakers rebalance alliance

That's a big move for autonomous vehicles, which are usually heavily constrained to daytime hours with less traffic. But it seems Cruise wasn't prepared to expand its services so quickly. Days later, Cruise vehicles began stopping in the middle of the road, blocking traffic.

Vogt resigns as CEO of Cruise following safety concerns over self-driving vehicles

Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt quits amid turmoil over driverless cars - Los Angeles Times

Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt quits amid turmoil over driverless cars.

Posted: Mon, 20 Nov 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]

The California Department of Motor Vehicles suspended Cruise's deployment and testing permits for its autonomous vehicles after that incident. "When there is an unreasonable risk to public safety, the DMV can immediately suspend or revoke permits," the regulators said in a statement at the time. In a separate internal email, also viewed by TechCrunch, GM Chair and CEO Mary Barra announced that Mo Elshenawy, who is executive vice president of engineering at Cruise, will serve as president and CTO for Cruise. Craig Glidden, a Cruise board member and GM’s EVP of legal and policy who was recently put in charge as chief administrative officer at Cruise, will continue in that role. Jon McNeill, a member of GM’s board, has been appointed vice chairman of the Cruise board. McNeill, who joined the Cruise board recently and was previously chief operating officer at Lyft and president of Tesla, will now serve alongside Cruise Board Chair Mary Barra.

Founder and CEO of GM’s self-driving car unit resigns in wake of safety problems - CNN

Founder and CEO of GM’s self-driving car unit resigns in wake of safety problems.

Posted: Mon, 20 Nov 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]

Problems at Cruise could slow the deployment of fully autonomous vehicles that carry passengers without human drivers on board. It also could bring stronger federal regulation of the vehicles, which are carrying passengers in more cities nationwide. The vehicles will not be autonomous as they will be driven by human drivers.

Having manual-driving vehicles drive around the city is a “critical step” for the advancement of Cruise’s self-driving technology. KRON4 asked Cruise if these human-driven vehicles would eventually return to San Francisco. The San Francisco-based company said, “because no two cities are the same,” it does not have a timeline for when that will happen. The move is dubbed the “next step” for Cruise’s mission to have driverless vehicles back on the streets.

The startup I launched in my garage has given over 250,000 driverless rides across several cities, with each ride inspiring people with a small taste of the future. Late last year, U.S. safety regulators said they were investigating reports that autonomous robotaxis run by Cruise can stop too quickly or unexpectedly quit moving, potentially stranding passengers. Following a series of self-driving car failures, including running over a woman and dragging her 20 feet, Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt resigns, effective immediately. His resignation follows an accident where a pedestrian who was struck by another vehicle became trapped underneath a Cruise robotaxi, which dragged her as it attempted to pull over.

Previously, she wrote about social media companies for CNET and the Mercury News. She also covered politics and education for the Statesman Journal in Salem, Ore. Growing up in Southern California, she started reading The Times as a kid and took her first journalism class in middle school. She graduated from Washington and Lee University, where she studied journalism and studio art. “Cruise is still just getting started, and I believe it has a great future ahead,” Vogt said on X.

Vogt expressed optimism about Cruise's future without him, saying the team is "executing on a solid, multi-year roadmap and an exciting product vision." Following a series of disasters—ranging from traffic stopping to human harm—Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt has resigned, and the company has yet to officially name a replacement. "Cruise is still just getting started, and I believe it has a great future ahead," Vogt said on X. He was named CEO in 2022 and formerly held that position from 2013 to 2019, according to his LinkedIn profile. Queenie Wong is a state politics reporter covering tech and entertainment policy for the Los Angeles Times.

Manual driving across these cities will help Cruise create maps and gather road information to improve safety for when autonomous vehicles do return, Cruise said. This isn’t the first time Cruise has gone through a leadership shuffle. Barra ousted Dan Ammann as Cruise CEO in December 2021, replacing him with Vogt, who at the time was chief technology officer. Ammann, who had once competed with Barra for the top spot at GM, wanted to keep the focus on robotaxis, while Barra and the GM board wanted to go big, including putting Cruise’s technology in luxury Cadillac vehicles.

Late last year, U.S. safety regulators said they were investigating reports that autonomous robotaxis run by Cruise can stop too quickly or unexpectedly quit moving, potentially stranding passengers. The accident on 2 October proved that driverless technology still has some way to go before it is rolled out more widely. Another car knocked a pedestrian into the path of a Cruise car, which initially stopped before driving another 6 metres (20ft), dragging the pedestrian along and seriously injuring her. The founder of General Motors-owned Cruise has stepped down less than a month after the driverless car company paused operations after an accident and the loss of permission to operate in California. Former Tesla and Lyft executive Jon McNeill, a member of GM's board of directors since 2022, was appointed vice chairman of the self-driving unit's board after Vogt's resignation. The last 10 years have been amazing, and I’m grateful to everyone who helped Cruise along the way.

Safety will guide our progress throughout this process,” Cruise said in an email response to KRON4. Vogt's resignation comes roughly two years after he was reappointed as CEO, following an unexpected departure by Dan Ammann, a former GM executive, in December 2021. According to its most recent quarterly update, GM has lost roughly $1.9 billion on Cruise between January and September 2023, including $732 million in the third quarter alone.

The announcement at CES certainly seemed to confirm that version of events. Vogt and Kan, who more recently held the chief product officer role, founded the autonomous vehicle company in 2013. Initially, the pair had focused on kits that could retrofit a vehicle and turn it into a self-driving car. GM took interest and acquired the company in March 2016 in a deal of cash and stock valued at more than $1 billion. The automaker’s driverless car subsidiary, Cruise, announced last night the resignation of Kyle Vogt as CEO.