Cruise, General Motors’ self-driving vehicle division, will lay off approximately 900 of its 3,800 full-time employees, the company announced Thursday.
For weeks, GM’s money-losing robotaxi unit has been in turmoil. Cruise withdrew all its self-driving vehicles from testing in the United States after California suspended its driverless testing permit following an October accident. In recent weeks, both CEO Kyle Vogt and co-founder Dan Kan resigned.
The majority of the layoffs are in commercial operations and related corporate functions. Cruise also stated that it had laid off some “contingent workers who support our driverless operations.” GM announced last month that it would reduce costs at Cruise, which lost over $700 million in the third quarter and over $8 billion since 2016.
The nascent driverless car industry is reliant on public trust and regulatory cooperation. The California Department of Motor Vehicles ordered Cruise to remove its driverless cars from state roads in October, calling them a public safety risk and accusing the company of misrepresenting the safety of its technology. The NHTSA opened an investigation into pedestrian risks at Cruise the same month.
According to a California agency, Cruise could face $1.5 million in fines and additional sanctions for failing to disclose details surrounding the accident.
