GM ditches Cruise’s custom-designed driverless car

General Motors told reporters connected Tuesday that it has indefinitely suspended accumulation of its self-driving Cruise Origin robotaxi, reports The New York Times. The institution will refocus connected utilizing nan Chevy Bolt EV, which Cruise has already been using. A modified type will spell into accumulation adjacent year.

The Origin created “regulatory uncertainty” owing to its design, GM CEO Mary Barra said successful her letter to shareholders today. It was to beryllium purpose-built for self-driving, pinch nary steering instrumentality aliases pedals, nary clear beforehand aliases rear, and nary driver; but estimates put each vehicle’s costs successful nan hundreds of thousands. The institution said successful September past twelvemonth it was “just days away” from regulators approving nan Origin for wide production.

Then a period later, Cruise’s robotaxis were banned successful California aft aggregate incidents, including 1 wherever a driverless Cruise car hit and dragged a San Francisco pedestrian. Since then, GM, which has mislaid respective billions connected nan institution already, has had to support Cruise afloat while it reorients.

Meanwhile, Cruise has been testing its Chevy Bolt EV robotaxis successful Dallas, Houston, and Phoenix, utilizing quality information drivers. The institution resumed testing earlier this year pinch manually driven vehicles and nary passengers.