Cruise is laying off 8% of staff as the coronavirus pandemic hits self-driving startups - Business Insider

Cruise is laying off staffers — about 8% of its workforce.

The self-driving startup is based in San Francisco; it was acquired by General Motors in 2016 and has achieved a nearly $20 billion valuation with subsequent funding rounds.General Motors self-driving car unit Cruise on Thursday announced it was laying off about 8% of its staff, according to an internal e-mail.

That makes it the latest autonomous vehicle technology firm to cut staff as the coronavirus pandemic has shut down the economy and dried up funding. Even before the pandemic, the autonomous driving industry faced challenges, with the promise of large-scale rollouts of so-called robotaxis pushed out by many years.

"In this time of great change, we're fortunate to have a crystal clear mission and billions in the bank. The actions we took today reflect us doubling down on our engineering work and engineering talent," Cruise spokesperson Milin Mehta told Reuters.

Starsky Robotics, a five-year-old San Francisco startup focused on automating long-haul freight delivery, closed its doors in mid-March due to lack of funding. And according to multiple reports Zoox, a self-driving tech firm based in Silicon Valley also laid off staff during the pandemic.

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