Kyle Vogt, the CEO of Cruise, General Motors’ robot-taxi unit, has stepped down from his position, a day after expressing apologies to the company’s staff amid an ongoing safety evaluation of its U.S. fleet.
In an email sent to Reuters on Sunday, the 38-year-old Vogt provided minimal explanation, stating, “I have resigned from my position.” Vogt, who founded Cruise in 2013, made this decision following a period of upheaval within the unit. It had to suspend all testing of its vehicles in the United States to conduct a safety review prompted by an October 2 accident involving one of Cruise’s self-driving taxis dragging a pedestrian.
A source familiar with the circumstances of Vogt’s departure indicated that he informed the board of his decision on Sunday, subsequent to apologizing to the staff for the company’s challenges in an email sent on Saturday.
“As CEO, I take responsibility for the situation Cruise is in today. There are no excuses, and there is no sugar coating what has happened. We need to double down on safety, transparency, and community engagement,” Vogt expressed in the email, exclusively reported by Reuters.
The setbacks at Cruise pose challenges for an industry reliant on public trust and regulatory cooperation. Despite earlier plans to expand to more cities and offer fully autonomous taxi rides, Cruise has faced increased scrutiny from GM and its board.
Following a board meeting on November 13, GM appointed Craig Glidden, the general counsel, as Cruise’s chief administrative officer. Additionally, the board announced the engagement of a third-party safety expert to evaluate safety operations and culture.
GM CEO Mary Barra revealed in an email to employees, seen by Reuters, that Glidden would serve as Cruise’s co-president alongside Mo Elshenawy, who would also take on the role of chief technology officer.
“We continue to believe strongly in Cruise’s mission and the potential of its transformative technology as we look to make transportation safer, cleaner and more accessible,” Barra stated.
Former Tesla President Jon McNeill, a GM director since 2022, was named vice chairman of the Cruise board, joining Barra, who chairs the board.
Cruise, competing with Alphabet’s Waymo in the deployment of autonomous vehicles, had been testing hundreds of them in various U.S. cities, particularly in its home base of San Francisco.
In October, the California Department of Motor Vehicles ordered Cruise to remove its driverless cars from state roads, citing public risk and accusing the company of misrepresenting the safety of its technology.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration initiated an investigation into pedestrian risks at Cruise in October. The Cruise board hired law firm Quinn Emanuel to review Cruise management’s responses to regulators investigating the October 2 accident.
“The last 10 years have been amazing, and I’m grateful to everyone who helped Cruise along the way,” Vogt wrote in his email. In a post on social media platform X shortly after his resignation, he added: “Cruise is still just getting started, and I believe it has a great future ahead.”
Barra has communicated to investors that Cruise could generate $50 billion in revenue by 2030. However, the operation incurred a loss of more than $700 million in the third quarter of this year due to its plans to expand operations to 15 U.S. cities.
