Cruise CEO resigns after self-driving fleet pulled

Kyle Vogt, the CEO of Cruise, General Motors’s (GM) autonomous vehicle unit, resigned Sunday amid growing safety concerns about the company’s self-driving fleet.

Vogt announced his resignation late Sunday night on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, without providing many details about what prompted the decision.

“The startup I launched in my garage has given over 250,000 driverless rides across several cities, with each ride inspiring people with a small taste of the future,” Vogt wrote on X. “Cruise is still just getting started, and I believe it has a great future ahead.”

Vogt offered a parting message to his colleagues at Cruise and GM, advising them to “remember why this work matters.”

“The status quo on our roads sucks, but together we’ve proven there is something far better around the corner,” Vogt said, adding he plans to spend time with family and “explore some new ideas.”

Cruise’s robotaxis have come under fierce scrutiny in recent months following a series of collisions. Earlier this month, the company recalled nearly 1,000 of its cars to update their software.

The recall came after Cruise announced last month it would pause driverless operations across all of its fleets to “examine” the company’s processes and tools. The pause was extended earlier this month to its supervised and manual auto vehicle operations while the company undergoes a safety review.

Safety concerns were brought to the forefront following an Oct. 2 crash in which a Cruise vehicle dragged a pedestrian to the side of the road after the person was hit by a different car and pushed into the path of the Cruise vehicle. Filings with the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the car’s software incorrectly categorized a crash and caused the car to try to pull over out of traffic instead of staying stationary.

Following that crash and others, California rescinded Cruise’s driverless permits, saying the company’s cars are “not safe for the public’s operation” and that Cruise “misrepresented” safety information. The Department of Motor Vehicles in California gave Cruise a list of changes required to get its autonomous vehicle permissions back but did not expand on details.

Cruise won approval to transport fare-paying passengers last year, according to The Associated Press, and started testing its autonomous cars on San Francisco roads in August.

Later that month, however, the firm agreed to cut half its fleet following two collisions with vehicles. 

Cruise said in a statement that its board accepted Vogt’s resignation and that Mo Elshenawy, Cruise’s executive vice president of engineering, will become president and chief technology officer, per the AP.

The AP reported Cruise also said Craig Glidden will serve as president and continue as chief administrative officer for Cruise.

The Hill has reached out to General Motors and Cruise for further comment.