General Motors Co (NYSE:GM) has reportedly decided to rein in funding for its self-driving unit Cruise in the wake of a pedestrian injury incident last month that led to a halt in both autonomous and manual operations.
What Happened: GM will spend less on the unit in the future and is expected to reveal the scale of its curtailed investment in the autonomous driving technology on Wednesday, Financial Times reported, citing sources. The lower costs will in part be driven by a slower rate of testing.
The decision to delay Cruise’s schedule could likely affect GM's long-term revenue targets, previously set at $80 billion by 2030, and expected to be fueled by new sectors such as self-driving income and software, the report added.
Cruise did not immediately respond to Benzinga’s request for comment.
Accident And Subsequent Suspension: Cruise has been embroiled in safety concerns after one of its AVs got involved in an accident in early October. It has paused both autonomous and manual AV operations in the United States.
Initially, Cruise paused its autonomous vehicle operations in San Francisco in October following a directive from the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). California DMV suspended Cruise’s autonomous vehicle deployment and driverless testing permits citing “unreasonable risk” to public safety. The authority further alleged that the company misrepresented information on the safety of its autonomous technology.
The suspension of Cruise's operations in Austin, Phoenix, and Houston followed a few days later. Early in November, the company announced that it is also pausing supervised and manual AV operations in the U.S., in a bid to rebuild public trust and undergo a full safety review.
Aftermath: However, only last week, a Cruise spokesperson informed Benzinga of the unit’s intentions to relaunch its operations. On relaunching in one city and regaining trust, the company will then scale operations, they said in a statement without elaborating on the time or the name of the city.
In the last quarter, Cruise reported an EBIT-adjusted loss of $732 million, a 47% increase from $497 million a year earlier.
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