From Origin To Bolt: GM's Cruise Refocuses Autonomous Vehicle Strategy

General Motors' autonomous vehicle branch Cruise, which made news last year when a pedestrian accident led to the suspension of its license, has canceled its highly publicized Origin robotaxi project. In contrast to Cruise's current fleet of self-driving cabs—remodels of Chevrolet Bolts—the Origin was a custom-built box-shaped robotaxi devoid of pedals and steering wheels, with front and rear seats that confront one another.

"Regulatory uncertainty" around that design was a major factor in GM's decision to scrap it, according to CEO Mary Barra. Instead, Cruise will shift its attention to developing fully autonomous variants of the 2025 Chevrolet Bolt, the company's next-generation vehicle.

Barra informed shareholders in a letter that the Cruise team will be concentrating on developing an autonomous car for the next-generation Chevrolet Bolt rather than the Origin, which would simplify their route to scale. The Origin faced regulatory ambiguity due to its unique design, but this resolves that issue. Also, Cruise will be able to make better use of its resources thanks to significantly reduced per-unit expenditures. Prior to the catastrophe that brought everything crashing down last October, Cruise's taxis had previously made headlines for being trapped in fog and colliding with buses.

The California DMV canceled the company's authorization to test autonomous cars in the state after an incident in San Francisco involving a lady being hit and dragged by one of the robotaxis. While Cruise took a nationwide hiatus and put the Origin project on hold, they are back out on the streets in Phoenix, Dallas, and Houston. At this time, the taxis are not accepting any paying customers and are simply running under the supervision of human drivers.

Once GM has completed further testing and regained the confidence of authorities, it plans to restart autonomous operations. General Motors' decision to shelve the project was incorrect, according to Cruise co-founder and former CEO Kyle Vogt, who left in November after criticism of his handling of the October tragedy.

In a post, Vogt expressed his disappointment that General Motors had discontinued the Origin. “GM repeatedly finds themselves with a 5–10 year head start, but then fumbles the ball, shuts things down, and loses the lead. Anyone remember the EV1? It’s like someone keeps letting them look into a crystal ball, and then they just go, “Nah, we’re good.” 

Meanwhile, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla (a company that has postponed the release of its own robotaxi), suggested that General Motors was being dishonest about why it was parking Origin.Musk reportedly told investors during an earnings conference, "Well, obviously, the real reason that they canceled it is because GM can't make it work, not because of regulators," according to Benzinga. “That’s misleading of them to do so, because Waymo is doing just fine in those markets. So it’s just that their technology is not at par.”

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