Are robotaxis the future? Or instead, the past?
Are robotaxis the future? Or instead, the past?
Cruise will always be known as the robotaxi company to burn $15B to completely piss off both every resident of San Francisco and all of the government regulators…
SF Chronicle reports that Cruise is gearing up for a return to the Bay Area. Note that they are not actually returning, but just "gearing up" to do so. If Cruise considers this feeble attempt newsworthy then they are indeed in deep trouble.
SF Examiner reports on how Cruise has vanished from SF by their ineptitude, but that Waymo has continued to grow.
Bloomberg reports on an purported deal where Uber will offer Cruise robotaxi rides early 2025.
Michael Smith digs into the GM Q2 2024 financial returns and finds out that the financial situation of Cruise is far more precarious than presented.
NY Times reports that Cruise has restarted operations in Dallas, Houston and Phoenix, though with human safety drivers. Article also reports that Cruise has lost $500 million for the first 6 months of 2024.
NY Times reports that Cruise has hired a CEO and a Chief Legal Officer from the video game industry. They have also hired a Chief Communications and Marketing Officer.
SF Examiner reports that the CPUC approved the previously agreed to $112,500 fine for Cruise for withholding information. This paltry fine will of course not affect the behavior of Cruise since it is currently burning a billion dollars a year.
The Verge reports that GM is dumping another $850 million into the dumpster fire that is Cruise. This is on top of the $8.2 billion they have already wasted. At year end they will have to make yet another decision on whether to burn even more money or to just close down the fiasco.
NY Times article on the difficulties Cruise is facing to restarting commercial robotaxi service. Given their many problems described in the article one has to assume that GM will dump Cruise sooner rather than later.
Washington Post reports that all of the major robotaxi companies are now under federal investigation for safety issues.
NBC Bay Area investigation finds that many San Francisco crossing guards have had scary "close calls" with robotaxis.
A detailed article by Fortune on what has happened to Cruise since their October 2nd crash. Though it appears that Fortune still believes that GM will do what is needed to make Cruise successful, when it is actually quite clear that Cruise is doomed.
Washington Post reports that Cruise settled with the severely injured person who was dragged by their robotaxi October 2nd, 2023. The settlement amount was between $8 million and $12 million, indicating severe and permanently disabling injuries inflicted due to their weak technology.
In the Q1 2024 financial report for General Motors they show that Cruise only has enough cash to continue operating through Q3. At that point we can expect GM to wave goodbye to their multi-billion dollar investment.
Fortune article on how GM is exploring whether they can get others to bail out Cruise by claiming that it is an AI company, since that is where the money currently is. And still, no plan for restarting actual service.
