A journey to reduce the workforce by 50 % after General Motors reduced funding for Robotaxi
Cruise with independent vehicles exceeds 50 % of the workforce – discounts extending to the CEO and many other senior executives – as they are preparing to close the operations. The remainder of Cruise will move under the parent company General Motors, as the auto company directs its resources towards improving the system of hand-free drivers-and at the end the independent personal vehicles are offered.
Workers’ layoffs were announced by Craig Gliden, the chief of Cruz and chief administrative officials, according to an email at the company level that Techcrunch had seen it and verified sources. Individuals who were affected by a separate e -mail from the main human resources officials on Nilka Thomas.
Workers’ demobilization comes nearly two months after General Motors said it would work Development financing is no longer It is a commercial robotics business and instead focuses on building personal independent car technology.
CEO Mark Whiten from Cruz will leave this week, along with Thomas, the chief safety employee Steve Kenner, and the head of global public policy Rob Grant.
More Elshenawy, the chief technician in Cruise, will remain until the end of April to help move.
As of January 2024, Cruise used about 2,100 people, according to sources that depend on estimates on the number of members on the Slack channel for the company’s ads. This means that more than 1,000 employees have been affected by the demobilization of workers.
Cruz did not respond to the comment. General Motors Send a press statement (After announcing the demobilization of the workers internally), it completed its acquisition of GM Cruise Holdings LLC after agreeing to the GM inclusion offer by the Board of Directors of the Maritime Flights. Cruise is now a subsidiary fully owned by General Motors.
Sources at the company Techcrunch that there were no details about Severance yet, but for each e -mail from Thomas, it will remain on the company’s salaries until April 5 and the benefits until the end of April.
The auto industry company expects that Save up to $ 1 billion annually By ending the Cruise Robotaxi development program. , According to the joint details during the fourth company profit call. At that time, financial director Paul Jacobson said that the expected savings in the costs were based on the assumption that “cruise staff will be fully integrated into General Motors by the middle of the year.”
In mid -January, the Maritime Flight Department began extending the offers of retaining employees, almost all of them are engineers, according to the familiar sources of the matter. In an email to Cruise employees, CEO Marc Whitten indicated that the next steps will come after passing the Maritime Council. This meeting took place on Monday, according to one source.
While cruise staff was initially I was destroyed By General Motors’ decision to withdraw the plug on the Robotaxi development program, they expected such an advertisement for weeks.
The sources that spoke to Techcrunch said that they were barely working and in a state of forgetfulness since General Motors announced while waiting for the next steps. On Monday afternoon, Glding sent a Slack to the employees, saying that he expects to share “some news related to the transition plans tomorrow” and advised the employees to “plan to work from home.”
“Thank you for your chest during this time – we know that uncertainty was difficult, but you have moved in the past weeks with grace and professional efficiency,” Glidden wrote.
Glding had previously held the position of GM Policy Executive Vice President, but the auto company cost him his role in Cruise In November 2023After the integrity of the marine flights that led to the fall of the company.
On October 2, 2023, Robotaki Cruz ran on one of the infantry that was closed on his way by a car driven by a person. Then Robotaxi pulled the infantry, which was stuck under the car, about 20 feet while trying to maneuver.
Corporation officials did not immediately share this few information with the authorities, and when it was revealed, the department of vehicles and public facilities in California, California It was suspended immediately The company’s permits to work. After that, Cruz relied on its entire robotics fleet across the United States, and many leadership team, including co -founder and CEO, Kyle Vouget.
After installing a new leadership, including permanent safety officials, Cruz was preparing to re -launch at the beginning of this year in Austin. The company spent a lot of testing in 2024 in Phoenix, Dallas, Houston, the Gulf region and equipped its safety systems. Two sources familiar with the Techcrunch matter were told that the company was ready to implement a updated sensor solution referred to internally as Rhino Project, which could have been solved for the October 2 accident by creating additional awareness and awareness under the car.
In June 2024, General Motors achieved another $ 850 million on a cruise, which led to its total spending on the company since it obtained most of the cruise shares in 2016 approximately $ 10 billion. In September, MOLSHENAWY, the president and a chief technical, gave a huge party for the cruise staff that some have read to be a sign that the company was advancing.
This story is developing …
