What’s the Deal With General Motors’ Robotaxi Plans?

What Happened?

General Motors (GM) announced its intent to pivot from plans of self-driving robotaxis to more focus around autonomous driving technology for personal use in the future.

The company, along with GM spokesman Kevin Kelly, told reporters Tuesday that GM sees a better overall business opportunity with personal vehicle autonomy, as opposed to building a robotaxi fleet.

GM's decision leaves open the future of tech company, Cruise's multi-year contract with Uber to introduce autonomous vehicles on its platform in 2025.

In 2016, GM brought control of San Francisco-based Cruise automation as it hoped the development would create a profitable fleet of robotaxis after investing billions over the years in the subsidiary.

As a result, GM eventually bought 90% of the company from investors while accumulating millions in losses in the process, according to reports.

The automaker now reportedly plans to combine Cruise and its team of GM technicians into a single joint effort to advance autonomous driving for personal cars.

In a statement, GM's CEO Mary Barra said, ‘Cruise has been an early innovator in autonomy, and the deeper integration of our teams, paired with GM’s strong brands, scale, and manufacturing strength, will help advance our vision for the future of transportation.’

GM adds that they have agreements with other minor stakeholders to sell their shares and raise GM's ownership to more than 97%. The plan is to purchase the remaining shares next year.

Reports stated Tuesday that Cruise saw more than $10 billion in operating losses while bringing in less than $500 million in revenue.

Why it Matters

The autonomous driving discussion has been heavily criticized amid a widespread range of safety concerns.

In October 2023, after an incident in San Francisco, Cruise halted all services and recalled its vehicles following a vehicle hitting a pedestrian leaving her critically injured.

Authorities then alleged that the company covered up the incident more than two weeks following the crash. They were also hit with a $1.5 million fine.

But GM later announced Cruise had resumed supervised autonomous driving this year in Phoenix, Dallas, and Houston as well.

Companies like Telsa (TSLA), however, see autonomous driving as the future of redefining the roadways behind multiple dynamics.

Tesla CEO, Elon Musk has reportedly said his company plans to have autonomous Models Y and 3 running without human drivers next year.

Musk also aims to introduce robotaxis without steering wheels using Tesla’s ‘Full Self-Driving’ system in 2026, beginning in California and Texas.

Agencies like the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration highly question Tesla's Full Self-Driving system's ability to see in low visibility conditions, casting doubt on those plans without humans behind the wheel.

How it Affects You

Whether the focus is on personal use or robotaxis, autonomous driving can have major impacts as society looks to innovate the future of driving.

For sure, autonomous driving can improve things such as mobility for older citizens by helping them remain ‘in the driving seat’ longer than they otherwise could.

But on the other side, it puts millions of driving jobs at risk. There are the threats of hacker attacks too. Plus, many more potential societal ramifications.

The bottom line is that the path forward requires bold innovation, but there will be consequences (some unintended), that will leave some folks behind.