GM CEO Mary Barra, with the ending of its Cruise robotaxi operations, made it clear that the automaker's growth priorities have shifted amid a broader, industrywide retrench to preserve capital.
"We are creating world-class technology solutions and services that will change the way people move, along with new fleet solutions and entirely new business models," Barra said during abroader, industrywide retrench Instead, after spending more than $10 billion on Cruise since acquiring it in 2016, GM is ending the robotaxi business and folding Cruise's operations and an undetermined number of its nearly 2,300 employees into the automaker.As part of the wind down, GM is expected to disclose additional expenses from employee separation packages and repurchasing equity investments from outside investors, among other costs, in the next year.
But it's hard to ignore that Cruise is GM's latest mobility venture or growth business to fold or not live up to expectations.used previously by the industry for growth initiatives — or startups have largely fallen flat since the automaker started investing in such growth areas in 2016. GM also continues to operate a military defense unit and fuel cell business that have both recently announced new contracts or partnerships. That includes hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts for GM Defense.Other than saving capital, GM's silver lining for canceling the Cruise robotaxi business was that it sees more promise in continuing to develop itsGM was the first automaker to offer such a hands-free system in 2016.