Cruise founder calls GM ‘a bunch of dummies’ after automaker shuts down robotaxi startup

A Cruise robotaxi in San Francisco

General Motors’ decision to pivot away from robotaxis has one big critic: Cruise founder Kyle Vogt.

Vogt, who resigned from the company in 2023, posted on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) following GM’s announcement that it would stop funding Cruise and fold it into the company’s other driver-assistance efforts: “In case it was unclear before, it is clear now: GM are a bunch of dummies.”

Vogt did not immediately respond to an interview request.

GM cited the hefty costs of fleet operation. Since taking control of the startup in 2016, GM has invested more than $10 billion in its development and operation.

The automaker has been trimming costs all year as demand for electric vehicles slows, and the company reckons with a longer road to profitability for these vehicles.

“Cruise was well on its way to a robotaxi business — but when you look at the fact you’re deploying a fleet, there’s a whole operations piece of doing that,” GM CEO Mary Barra said on a conference call reported by CNBC.

Ending investment in Cruise’s robotaxi business is the latest blow for the self-driving division. Commercial robotaxi rides have been on pause since October of last year when one of its cars injured a pedestrian.

Vogt’s departure last year came just weeks after the company suspended all autonomous operations. The company has since resumed autonomous vehicle testing with safety drivers in Arizona and Texas.

The state of the robotaxi business

GM is just the latest legacy car company to scrap autonomous vehicle funding. Rival Ford pulled out of its joint venture with Argo AI in 2022.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s Tesla is all-in on robotaxis, and tech giant Alphabet is barreling forward with driverless Waymo rides open to consumers in many cities.

Still, some investors seemed to welcome GM’s decision to pull Cruise’s funding in favor of $2 billion in annual savings, sending GM’s stock price up more than 3% in after-hours trading Tuesday. Shares fell more than 4% in trading Wednesday.

“While some bulls may have hoped for external funding to give Cruise a life extension, we strongly believe that most investors did not want to see GM commit more capital to Cruise,” UBS analyst Joseph Spak wrote in a note to clients.