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

Table Of Content

• Lucid slashes prices for its luxury EVs for the third time in seven months
• Robotaxi
• Laid-off Cruise worker dishes on lingering impact of San Francisco crash on robotaxi company
• Billionaire Telegram CEO says he was attacked in SF after 2014 Jack Dorsey meeting
• Cruise slashes 24% of self-driving car workforce in sweeping layoffs
• Learning the Ropes: How to Prevent Data Theft by Employees

Weeks following the October mishap, California’s department of motor vehicles in effect shut down the robotaxi service by suspending its license to operate in the state. The employment actions come following an initial analysis of the 2 October crash and the company response after a Cruise robotaxi ran over and injured a pedestrian who had been hit by another vehicle driven by a human. Cruise told CNBC that the layoffs are reflective of its current supervised driving operations, adding that the company plans to resume driverless service but that it does not have a specific timeline to share. 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.

Cruise layoffs, exosuits and why French startups are bubbling up - TechCrunch

Cruise layoffs, exosuits and why French startups are bubbling up.

Posted: Fri, 15 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]

Lucid slashes prices for its luxury EVs for the third time in seven months

Everyone will receive an end-of-the-year bonus, as well as extended medical and dental coverage, immigration support, and other benefits. In response, several top executives have left the company, including co-founder and CEO Kyle Vogt and chief product officer Dan Kan. Nine more executive were dismissed yesterday, including chief legal and policy officer Jeff Bleich and senior vice president of government affairs David Estrada. Most of the job cuts are in corporate and commercial roles, which have become less important since the company voluntarily suspended all its driverless operations across the country in October. The shut down came two days after California’s Department of Motor Vehicles said that the company “misrepresented” its technology and ordered Cruise to stop operating in the state. 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.

Robotaxi

This is very different from our prior plans to expand into more than a dozen new cities in 2024. California regulators said the company's vehicles posed "an unreasonable risk to public safety." And internal documents recently showed that Cruise apparently knew that its driverless cars had trouble correctly identifying children. 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.

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

A further 43 jobs were cut at the company’s Sunnyvale office and 18 jobs at its South San Francisco warehouse location. As part of their total compensation, Cruise employees would receive some cash salary and also would receive another portion as company stock. On Thursday, Cruise abruptly ended a program allowing employees and alumni to sell company stock back to its corporate parent, General Motors.

I'm thankful we had the chance to work together, and I know I speak on behalf of so many Cruisers who will be reaching out to those departing to help with our professional networks and references. On behalf of the SLT, the Cruise Board and GM, I'm truly grateful to everyone who has played a role in building Cruise and who has poured so much into the promise of making our roads safer and our world better. We knew this day was coming, but that does not make it any less difficult—especially for those whose jobs are affected.

“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. The news follows a barrage of safety concerns and incidents since Cruise, owned by General Motors, received approval in August for round-the-clock robotaxi service in San Francisco. In October, the California Department of Motor Vehicles on Tuesday suspended Cruise's deployment and testing permits for its autonomous vehicles, effective immediately. Cruise is targeting non-engineering jobs in the layoffs, particularly those people who worked in the field, commercial operations and corporate staffing, according to the email. The company has also ended additional assignments of contingent workers who supported its driverless operations.

And financial pressures have been mounting for start-ups that sell sensors and other technology to self-driving car companies. Cruise’s troubles can be traced to an Oct. 2 crash when a car hit a woman at an intersection in San Francisco and flung her into the path of one of Cruise’s driverless taxis. The Cruise car dragged the woman some 20 feet before pulling to the curb, causing severe injuries. Regulators accused Cruise of omitting footage of its car dragging the woman from a video that it provided to state officials. What's nextAs mentioned, in a few moments, you will receive an email letting you know whether or not you are affected by this staffing reduction, and if you are impacted, you will get details about what happens next. I am so sorry we have to do this by email, as I would prefer that we have a conversation with each of you.

Learning the Ropes: How to Prevent Data Theft by Employees

A company blog post said that 24 percent of full-time Cruise employees will be let go, with a focus on field and commercial operations, and corporate staffing, though some engineers are also affected. The company had already cut last month a portion of its contingent workforce who kept self-driving vehicles clean, charged, and maintained. Today, we are making staff reductions that will affect 24% of full-time Cruisers, through no fault of their own. We are simplifying and focusing our efforts to return with an exceptional service in one city to start with and focusing on the Bolt platform for this first step before we scale.

GM Cruise accident

And a humbled CEO Kyle Vogt confirmed to employees that the company will need to do layoffs. 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 company had 3,800 employees before Thursday's cuts, which also follow a round of contractor layoffs at Cruise last month. Affected employees will receive paychecks until Feb. 12 and at least an additional eight weeks of pay, plus severance based on tenure. "Cruise has made the difficult decision to reduce a portion of the contingent workforce that supported driverless ridehail operations," a Cruise spokesperson told Insider. The layoffs follow a series of missteps in recent months that culminated in the California Department of Motor Vehicles suspending the company’s driverless vehicle permit. The California Public Utilities Commission pulled Cruise’s permit, which allowed it to charge for robotaxi rides, soon after.

The sacking of around 900 employees is the latest blow to the General Motors-owned company still reeling from the impact of an Oct. 2 incident in San Francisco, where a Cruise vehicle struck and dragged a woman nearly 20 feet after she was first hit by a human-driven vehicle. GM Cruise on Thursday announced internally that it will lay off 900 employees, or 24% of its workforce. Cruise layoffs will affect around 24% of its workforce as it works to restructure operations following an accident that forced it to halt U.S. testing, the company said on Thursday.

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. Since purchasing Cruise in 2016 for $1 billion, General Motors has been hemorrhaging money.

Engineering, a category that makes up the bulk of the Cruise workforce, is largely being preserved, according to the content of the email and discussions with internal sources. 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. Cruise wants to “enhance our safety standards and processes before we scale,” company co-president and CTO Mo ElShenawy wrote in a letter to employees announcing the layoffs today.

Affected employees were primarily in the company’s commercial operations division, as well as related corporate functions, a spokesperson said. Following the resignation of Vogt, Mo Elshenawy, the company’s VP for engineering, was promoted to president and chief technology officer. Cruise, the self-driving unit of General Motors, will lay off nearly a quarter of its employees, or 900 workers, after grounding its fleet in response to an incident in which a hit-and-run victim became pinned under a Cruise vehicle and then was dragged 20 feet to the side of the road.

"These contingent workers were responsible for work such as cleaning, charging and maintaining the fleet, and we're grateful for their contributions." Cruise executives said at the time they wanted to take a measured business approach that preserves cash and improves safety culture in an attempt to put GM’s troubled autonomous vehicle subsidiary on the right path. 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.