Cruise was General Motors' attempt to gain a foothold among fully self-driving cars. But after several scandals, the brand that cost 76 billion is closing.
It should have been restarted. But now the story has taken a surprising turn. In a surprising twist, General Motors (GM) is now shutting down its robot taxi service, Cruise, after investing billions in the project.
GM has spent the equivalent of 76 billion Danish kroner on developing Cruise. But now they are closing the service as they believe it is not financially sustainable.
– The amount of money to implement a robot taxi business and then sustain that business and grow it, that's a lot of capital. A robot taxi company is not General Motors' core business, according to Reuters .
Instead of robot taxis, GM will focus on developing self-driving technology for privately owned cars. Barra believes that this market has greater potential for profit.
– We know that people everywhere love to choir in their own choir clothes, but not in all situations. The opportunity to deliver these benefits to our customers that they will use every day is very exciting for us and it is our core business, " says Mary Barra.
Even if Cruise closes, GM does not see the investment of 76 billion kroner as wasted. The group expects to be able to reuse a large part of the technology in their future projects .
This decision contrasts with Tesla's strategy, which bets heavily on self-driving technology and robot axes. Tesla's stock has experienced an increase following the presentation of their Cybercab, and there are high expectations that self-driving cars will change the transportation sector in the United States.
However, GM's decision to shut down Cruise shows that there are differing views on how best to implement and commercialize this technology.
