Founder and chief executive of Cruise, the driverless car subsidiary of General Motors, resigned on Sunday, less than a month after Cruise suspended all autonomous operations after a series of traffic mishaps. He leaves behind a company in deep crisis and an industry that is confronting increased public and regulatory scrutiny. Cruise pulled all of its driverless cars off the road after its license to operate them was suspended in California. With its costs spiraling, the company is considering layoffs. Instead of installing a new chief executive, G.M. appointed two presidents who will report to its board: Mo Elshenawy, Cruise’s executive vice president of engineering, and Craig Glidden, G.M.’s general counsel. The upheaval at Cruise has caused worry among driverless car rivals that regulators could increase their enforcement and scrutiny of the industry, slowing the expansion plans of Aurora; Zoox, a division of Amazon; and Waymo, which has been operating robot taxis in San Francisco largely without incident. Mary Barra, General Motor’s chief executive, sent an email to Cruise’s employees on Sunday in which she thanked Mr. Vogt for “his tremendous vision” and said that the board understood and respected his resignation. Cruise’s troubles accelerated over the summer as the company expanded its self-driving taxi fleet in San Francisco. But the most problematic episode happened on Oct. 2 when a Cruise car dragged the woman. After the accident, Cruise said that it had hired Quinn Emanuel, a law firm, to investigate the company’s response to the crash. The timing of Cruise’s suspension was unfortunate for Ms. Barra. She has spent years promoting its potential to benefit G.M.’s business. He started Cruise after his first start-up, a company that became Twitch, was bought by Amazon for $1 billion. In his post on X, Mr. Vogt expressed pride in what he had achieved and channeled Silicon Valley’s mythology about start-up founders who build businesses in a garage.
As a result of a series of traffic mishaps, the founder and chief executive of Cruise, resigned. This drastic change leaves cruise in shambles and amidst increased public and regulatory scrutiny. Additionally, this upheaval is causing concern and potential enforcement and scrutiny of the industry. Mary Barra, General Motor’s chief executive, expressed her thanks to Mr. Vogt for “his tremendous vision” and stated that the board understood and respected his resignation. It is unfortunate timing given Ms. Barra’s previous efforts in promoting Cruise’s business potential to benefit G.M. The resignation comes among allegations that Cruise omitted footage of a particular incident and Mr. Vogt’s lack of involvement in meetings is causing internal speculation. Overall, it seems that the company is in complete chaos and in need of widespread investigation to recover its public trust.
