GM is resuming its self-driving effort almost two years after a Cruise taxi accident. However, the carmaker is shifting its focus away from robotaxis and toward personal autonomous driving.
In an official statement, the American auto giant revealed it is building a team of autonomy experts.
“We’re accelerating the development of autonomous driving technology capable of operating without active human oversight, which includes building a team of autonomy experts. Our LiDAR-equipped fleet is logging nationwide miles across the country, with trained safety drivers, capturing real-world insights to build simulation models that will guide development.”
This came after media reports that GM is pivoting to autonomous driving in personal capacity. It is a significant step down from the Cruise program, which aimed to compete with Waymo and Tesla’s robotaxi products.
Bloomberg, citing unnamed sources, reported that GM will initially reboot with hands-free and eyes-free driving, but with human supervision required. It will then upgrade to human-free navigation. The new plans were reportedly shared in an internal meeting by ex-Tesla Sterling Anderson, who started working for GM this year.
Sterling said former Cruise employees would form the core of a new group that would advance GM’s self-driving interests. The company laid off about 1,000 employees earlier this year.
GM decided to put Cruise testing on hold nationwide after the California Public Utilities Commission suspended its permit following an accident in San Francisco. The robotaxi failed to stop after a car knocked a woman into its path, and ended up dragging the victim for about 20 feet. The pedestrian survived with serious injuries. In the aftermath, GM fired several executives and faced a $1.5 million fine for not adequately reporting the incident.
