DETROIT- General Motors is postponing production of its autonomous vehicle Origin indefinitely while its controversial self-driving unit Cruise tries to resume operations.
The Detroit-based automaker announced on Tuesday that its robotaxi division, in which it has a majority stake, would instead focus on developing autonomous vehicles with the next-generation Chevrolet Bolt. Cruise has been using the now-discontinued Bolt to develop autonomous vehicles for several years.
GM CEO Mary Barra, who chairs Cruise's board, said in a letter to shareholders that the change would reduce Cruise's costs and eliminate “the regulatory uncertainty” associated with the lack of manual controls such as steering wheels or pedals in the vehicles.
GM announced the change as part of its quarterly results, which included about $600 million in special costs related to halting production of the Origin at a plant in Detroit. The company had “temporarily” halted production of the Origin in November, just days after the unit said it was suspending all driverless operations in connection with an accident in San Francisco in which a pedestrian was dragged about 20 feet by a Cruise robotaxi after being struck by another vehicle.
A third-party investigation into the incident in October, commissioned by GM and Cruise, found that culture issues, incompetence and poor leadership led to regulatory failures that resulted in the accident. The investigation also looked into allegations of a cover-up by Cruise leadership, but investigators found no evidence to support those claims.
At the time, San Francisco-based Cruise was trying to build its operations into a revenue-generating business for GM, which has owned the company majority since its acquisition in 2016. Other investors now include Honda engines, MicrosoftT. Rowe Price and Walmart.
In addition to ongoing testing in Dubai, Cruise has resumed accompanied driving in Phoenix, Houston and Dallas. Flights have not yet resumed in San Francisco because an investigation into the accident is ongoing there.
It was not immediately clear how many Origin vehicles were produced at the facility, but it was previously reported that Cruise co-founder and former CEO Kyle Vogt told employees that hundreds of Origin vehicles had been produced.
In February 2022, Cruise filed a petition with U.S. regulators requesting permission to deploy up to 2,500 self-driving Origin vehicles annually without human control.
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