GM's Cruise lays off contractors after suspending self-driving cars

Table Of Content

• Cruise lays off nearly a quarter of its staff after grounding its robotaxi fleet
• Laid-off Cruise worker dishes on lingering impact of San Francisco crash on robotaxi company
• Cruise, GM’s self-driving unit, lays off 8 percent of staff
• Cruise is reportedly planning to lay off employees after weeks of crises
• Cruise slashes 24% of self-driving car workforce in sweeping layoffs
• Nancy Tung, a career prosecutor, elected as San Francisco Democratic Party chair
• Police look for man they say assaulted a baby on a San Francisco bus

I am so sorry we have to do this by email, as I would prefer that we have a conversation with each of you. Unfortunately, given the scale of this change, this approach allows us to communicate to those who are impacted at the same time. We know you will want to say goodbye to your colleagues, so you will have access to Cruise email and Zoom for the next couple of hours (until 10am PT). Many of you will be impacted because we aren't commercializing as quickly, and therefore don't need support in certain cities or facilities. We didn't take any of these decisions lightly, though I know that isn't much of a consolation if you're someone affected by the actions we are taking today.

GM's struggling Cruise business to cut one-quarter of its workforce - Reuters

GM's struggling Cruise business to cut one-quarter of its workforce.

Posted: Thu, 14 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]

Cruise lays off nearly a quarter of its staff after grounding its robotaxi fleet

These impacts are largely outside of engineering, although some Tech positions are impacted also. As you might have learned, yesterday, we took action to part ways with several SLT members. “We are simplifying and focusing our efforts to return with an exceptional service in one city to start with,” ElShenawy wrote. “As a result of our decision to slow down commercialization, we are restructuring to focus on delivering the improvements to our tech and vehicle performance that will build trust in our AVs [autonomous vehicles],” the letter said.

Laid-off Cruise worker dishes on lingering impact of San Francisco crash on robotaxi company

General Motors has absorbed huge losses during the development of the driverless service that was supposed to generate $1bn in revenue by 2025, with plans to expand beyond San Francisco. Also among the cuts, according to Bloomberg, was Prashanthi Raman, Cruise’s vice president of government affairs. Raman was featured in a promotional video last year where she rode around San Francisco in a Cruise robotaxi alongside former Mayor Willie Brown. Cruise has lost more than $8 billion since 2017, including $728 million in the third quarter of 2023, according to GM financial records.

Cruise, GM’s self-driving unit, lays off 8 percent of staff

"We are still working through what that means for the company and who's going to be affected by that and we don't have all the answers yet," Vogt said, according to Forbes. "But what I can do is commit to providing more details within the next three weeks. So, importantly that's not when layoffs would occur for full time employees, that's when we're going to give you an update on what that timeline might be." Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt appeared to confirm that the company would have to go forward with layoffs of full-time staff, Forbes reported, citing audio of a Monday all-hands meeting that it had obtained. The workers impacted in the announced layoffs weren't directly employed by Cruise, but rather employees contracted through third-party vendors and staffing agencies. As a result of our decision to slow down commercialization, we are restructuring to focus on delivering the improvements to our tech and vehicle performance that will build trust in our AVs. Cruise announced it would be pausing driverless operations for a review by independent experts and later recalled all 950 of its cars to update software.

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In October, Cruise lost its permit in California entirely after an incident in which a pedestrian was dragged beneath one of its driverless vehicles 20 feet after it ran her over after she was first struck by a different car. GM, Cruise's parent company, then paused all Cruise robotaxi operations nationwide. General Motors voluntarily recalled Cruise’s entire fleet of 950 robotaxis, and yesterday, Cruise published a blog post in response to the recent events. Interestingly, the post said that the company is looking to hire a chief safety officer and is bringing on law firm Quinn Emmanuel, which has worked with Elon Musk, to review its response to the October pedestrian incident in San Francisco.

Cruise is reportedly planning to lay off employees after weeks of crises

McNeill, who joined the Cruise board recently and was previously chief operating officer at Lyft and president of Tesla, now serves alongside GM Chair and CEO Mary Barra. Days later Cruise paused all of its driverless operations in other markets where it had more limited service, including Austin, Houston and Phoenix. South Florida's cruise companies are buoyed by a surge in passengers, but they're still paying for the pandemic interrupting their business. Carnival Corp.’s Princess Cruises this week canceled 11 fall sailings on its Diamond Princess, saying it couldn’t provide the level of service customers expect amid ongoing labor shortages. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd., another large operator, told investors it’s had to limit capacity on the Pride of America because of staffing.

Cruise slashes 24% of self-driving car workforce in sweeping layoffs

The autonomous vehicle company confirmed to Insider that some of its contract workers who were involved in the company's robotaxi operations had been laid off, but declined to provide a specific number or locations impacted. Craig and I believe this is a necessary step, and our leadership team and the board are fully aligned with how our go-forward U.S. staffing needs will map to the priorities ahead of us, and set up Cruise for the long term. We have also ended additional assignments of contingent workers who support our driverless operations, as we refined our go forward plans. In October, the California Department of Motor Vehicles suspended Cruise's deployment and testing permits for its autonomous vehicles, alongside a statement that said, "When there is an unreasonable risk to public safety, the DMV can immediately suspend or revoke permits." General Motors’ troubled Cruise autonomous vehicle unit is cutting over 900 jobs, about a quarter of its workforce, as it moves to reduce costs and remake itself after a grisly accident in San Francisco and subsequent regulatory scrutiny. Early last month, the company recalled all its robotaxis, which it had been testing on roads in California, and regulators accused Cruise of hiding the severity of the incident.

The California Public Utilities Commission pulled Cruise’s permit, which allowed it to charge for robotaxi rides, soon after. The agencies suspended Cruise’s permits after an October 2 incident, in which a pedestrian who was struck by a human driver and then landed in the adjacent lane, was then run over by a  Cruise robotaxi. The robotaxi initiated its brakes and came to a stop with the pedestrian under the vehicle.

Cruise co-founder and CEO Kyle Vogt told employees during an all-hands meeting Monday that layoffs were coming, sources who were on the call told TechCrunch. Elshenawy was listed as the author of the memo informing staff of the layoffs, which offered details about severance, benefits and career support. Laid-off Cruise employees are being offered at least 16 weeks of pay after their departures. Cruise announced a round of layoffs Thursday affecting contract workers who worked on its driverless ridehailing service, CNBC has learned.

“As we build a better Cruise, we’re evaluating a variety of potential actions to ensure we operate at the highest standards of safety, transparency and accountability,” Cruise spokesperson Navideh Forghani said in a statement. “We are committed to keeping our customers, regulators, and the public informed throughout this process,” she added. Our message to other employers in the market is that each departing Cruiser is a talented, driven, and mission-focused team member who will contribute and achieve great things elsewhere. Other companies will be privileged to have these professionals on their teams, as we were privileged to have them here during their time at Cruise. A barrage of safety concerns and incidents have plagued Cruise, majority-owned by GM, since it received approval in August for round-the-clock robotaxi service in San Francisco. The company also said that all employees, regardless of whether they were laid off, will receive their January 15th vesting through its employee share-selling program.

Cruise issued Wednesday a recall for 950 vehicles equipped with its autonomous vehicle software following the October 2 crash that left a pedestrian, who had initially been hit by a human-driven car, stuck under and then dragged by one of the company’s robotaxis. The company told employees the decision was made for a few reasons, including that driverless operations had been paused or “deprioritized as we focus on supervised driving for the time being,” according to an internal message sent early Thursday morning and viewed by TechCrunch. The company laid off Thursday contingent workers, people who were employed to support its driverless fleet. These included jobs cleaning, charging and maintaining the vehicles as well as answering customer support inquiries, according to spokesperson Tiffany Testo. Vendors will make their own determination about severance for those workers, according to Testo.

This week, the company, which has 4,000 employees, started laying off contingent workers who support the driverless fleet, with more layoffs to follow, according to TechCrunch. According to Forbes, the company’s CEO Kyle Vogt told staff of the decision in an all-hands meeting earlier this week. Cruise hasn’t yet decided who or how many people will lose their jobs, Vogt said, but promised to provide more details in the next three weeks.