BURSTGeneral Motors (GM) said Tuesday that it will no longer fund the development of robotaxis and instead focus on creating fully autonomous personal vehicles.
Cruise, GM’s self-driving car subsidiary, will be combined with the automaker’s own team to form a single unit focused on autonomous driving.
GM pointed to the “considerable time and resources” needed to scale its robotaxi business and an increasingly competitive market for its decision to abandon the development of self-driving taxis.
“GM is committed to delivering the best driving experiences to our customers in a disciplined and capital efficient manner,” GM chair and CEO Mary Barra said in a statement.
“Cruise has been an early innovator in autonomy, and the deeper integration of our teams, paired with GM’s strong brands, scale, and manufacturing strength, will help advance our vision for the future of transportation,” she added.
The move comes a little over a year after a Cruise robotaxi was involved in a high-profile accident in San Francisco, in which the self-driving car dragged a pedestrian 20 feet after she was struck by another vehicle.
Cruise suspended its operations nationwide in the wake of the accident and faced investigations from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
In September, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced that the company had agreed to pay $1.5 million for failing to initially disclose details about the accident.