General Motors’ cruise self-driving car unit is restructuring and cutting costs after several safety incidents in San Francisco, resulting in over 900 layoffs, or about a quarter of its workforce. The subsidiary announced the layoffs in a letter from president and chief technology officer Mo El-Shenawy to Cruise’s 3,800 employees, stating that the layoffs were not the fault of the employees.
The layoffs come after Cruise acknowledged that nine key leaders are no longer with the company as an investigation into an October accident involving one of the company’s driverless robotaxis continues. “We are first simplifying and focusing our efforts to provide great service in one city,” El-Shenawy wrote in the letter. The measures follow an analysis of the October crash and response after a Cruise robotaxi struck and injured a pedestrian.
California regulators allege that Cruise concealed the severity of the October accident, and robotaxi services are also being investigated by US auto safety regulators. The employment measures include additional pay and benefits for laid-off employees.
“Today is one of the most difficult days yet as so many talented people are retiring,” El-Shenawy wrote. Cruise has faced significant turmoil in recent months, and General Motors is absorbing huge losses while developing a driverless service. GM plans to slow spending at Cruise, which it acquired eight years ago. For the first nine months of this year, Cruise posted a pretax loss of $1.9 billion.
Source: nypost.com
