Ford Rival GM To End Robotaxi Development Efforts

For some time now, more than one automaker has been working on developing an autonomous robotaxi – including Tesla and Ford – which are vehicles that users could hail like a taxi from their smartphones, albeit without a driver behind the wheel. Ford rival General Motors has been working on its own robotaxi for some time, but just this past June, it opted to pause production of its Cruise Origin robotaxi indefinitely, and instead, it intended to pivot to the next-generation Chevy Bolt EV as its robotaxi platform of choice. Now, GM has ditched those plans altogether.

According to GM Authority, General Motors has announced that it is no longer working on a robotaxi and will instead focus its efforts on autonomous technology for personal vehicles rather than commercial-focused ones. GM will work with Cruise to complete this restructuring of sorts, though the automaker hasn’t yet provided details regarding what that might look like. Regardless, GM plans to shift the capital it was investing in its robotaxi efforts to help further develop its Super Cruise hands-free semi-autonomous driving feature. Ultimately, the automaker expects to save around $1 billion annually from this move, starting in the first half of 2025.

“GM is committed to delivering the best driving experiences to our customers in a disciplined and capital efficient manner,” said GM CEO Mary Barra. “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 added that developing a competitive robotaxi unit isn’t realistic at this time “given the considerable time and resources that would be needed to scale the business, along with an increasingly competitive robotaxi market.”

In addition to facing obstacles in regard to fully autonomous technology, Ford’s cross-town rival has been dealing with an overall slowdown in EV demand as well, which recently prompted it to sell its stake in the Ultium Cells LLC battery plant in Lansing, Michigan, to LG Energy. Additionally, GM announced that it expects to take a $5 billion dollar hit in China just last week amid hefty competition in that market.