Cruise, an autonomous vehicle company, is laying off about half of its employees, TechCrunch reports. The layoffs even include the CEO and other top managers. This is part of a large-scale restructuring of the parent company GM, which will eventually lead to a complete cessation of operations.
The layoffs are expected to affect more than 1,000 people, including CEO Mark Witten, Chief Safety Officer Steve Kenner, and Head of Public Policy Rob Grant. Chief Technology Officer Moe Elshenawy is also being laid off, but will remain on board until the end of April to help with the transition. To this end, some Cruise employees and resources will continue to work. They will be transferred to the Super Cruise team, which is developing GM’s driver assistance system.
These layoffs did not come as a big surprise, given that GM had already announced that it was abandoning the development of a robotaxi. However, the company has not stopped chasing the dream of autonomous vehicles. GM still plans to release self-driving cars for personal use at some point in the future.
The last few years have not been easy for Cruise. The company came under scrutiny after one of its robocabs hit a pedestrian and dragged him for 20 feet. Prior to the accident, the company’s algorithm was notorious for repeatedly failing to recognize children.
The investigation that followed forced Cruise to halt all operations to create a manned robotaxi service. GM was fined $1.5 million for omitting key details about the aforementioned accident. There have also been major layoffs. In recent months, Cruise has resumed limited operations, but only with human drivers.
