Cruise, the self-driving vehicle division of General Motors (NYSE:GM), announced Thursday that the company will reduce its workforce by 24% as part of a restructuring effort following a recent accident that led to the suspension of U.S. testing.
The upheaval within GM's money-losing autonomous taxi unit has been ongoing for several weeks. Following an October accident that prompted California to suspend its driverless testing permit, Cruise withdrew all its U.S. vehicles from self-driving tests. Last month, both CEO Kyle Vogt and co-founder Dan Kan resigned from the unit.
The upheaval within GM's money-losing autonomous taxi unit has been ongoing for several weeks. Following an October accident that prompted California to suspend its driverless testing permit, Cruise withdrew all its U.S. vehicles from self-driving tests. Last month, both CEO Kyle Vogt and co-founder Dan Kan resigned from the unit.
"This reflects our new future and a more deliberate go-to-market path, meaning less immediate need for field, commercial operations and corporate staffing," Cruise said of the job cuts.
Cruise fired nine executives on Wednesday, including its chief operating officer and chief legal and policy officer. This decision comes as the GM spinoff grapples with an ongoing external investigation conducted by law firm Quinn Emanuel, focusing on an accident from October involving a pedestrian.
The pedestrian was struck by another vehicle before being thrown into the path of a self-driving Cruise vehicle.
Following the incident, the California Department of Motor Vehicles directed Cruise to remove its autonomous vehicles from state roads, citing concerns about their safety risk to the public. The department also accused the company of misrepresenting the safety capabilities of its technology.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened their investigation the same month.
Shares of GM are up 0.25% in pre-market trading on Friday.