Cruise, with independent vehicles, delivers “approximately 50 % of the workforce – discounts extending to the CEO and many senior executives – as they are preparing to close the operations. The remainder of Cruise will move under the parent company General Motors, as the auto company directs its resources towards improving the system of hand-free drivers-and at the end the independent personal vehicles are offered.
Workers’ layoffs were announced by Craig Gliden, the chief of Cruz and chief administrative officials, according to an email at the company level that Techcrunch had seen it and verified sources. Individuals who were affected by a separate e -mail from the main human resources officials on Nilka Thomas.
CEO Mark Whiten from Cruz will leave this week, along with Thomas, the chief safety employee Steve Kenner, and the head of global public policy Rob Grant.
More Elshenawy, the chief technician in Cruise, will remain until the end of April to help move.
“As a result of the change in the strategy that we announced in December, we will today separate approximately 50 % of the base of our cruise employees, by a power reduction,” says email from Glding. “Anyone who has passed through a reduction that knows that the days of such are very difficult, and today it is not different. By staying away from horse riding work and providing independent vehicles to clients alongside General Motors, the needs of our employees and resources have changed significantly. Today’s actions are working to comply with our teams with our needs New, and focus our efforts to build a global -level AV technology.
As of January 2024, Cruise used about 2,100 people, according to sources that depend on estimates on the number of members on the Slack channel for the company’s ads. This means that more than 1,000 employees have been affected by the demobilization of workers.
Placing an official comment from Cruise Labor No. of about 40 %, which contradicts the GLEDENEN email.
The company wrote in a statement sent via e -mail: “Cruz shared the difficult decision in separating about 40 % of the workforce,” the company wrote in a statement sent via email. “We are grateful for their passion and their contributions to help us reach this stage, and our focus on their support in the following chapter with Severance packages and professional support. Although it is not an easy decision, we focus on combining efforts with General Motors to accelerate the autonomy on a large scale on vehicles Personal independent.
General Motors Send a press statement (After announcing the demobilization of the workers internally), it completed its acquisition of GM Cruise Holdings LLC after agreeing to the GM inclusion offer by the Board of Directors of the Maritime Flights. Cruise is now a subsidiary fully owned by General Motors.
All employees who have been demobilized will remain on the company’s salaries until April 5 and the benefits until the end of April. The affected workers will receive eight weeks of separation salaries and benefits. The long -term employees will be offered for two weeks of wages and benefits for each full year of work over three years. All employees will also receive three months from the company’s Cobra coverage, as well as the LinkedIn Premium subscription for a year to support the search for a job.
Workers’ layoffs come nearly two months after General Motors said that it will then not finance the development of commercial robotics business and instead focus on building personal independent car technology.
The auto company expects to save up to one billion dollars annually by completing the Robotaxi cruise development program. , According to the joint details during the fourth company profit call. At that time, financial director Paul Jacobson said that the expected savings in the costs were based on the assumption that “cruise staff will be fully integrated into General Motors by the middle of the year.”
In mid -January, the Maritime Flight Department began extending the offers of retaining employees, almost all of them are engineers, according to the familiar sources of the matter. In an email to Cruise employees, CEO Marc Whitten indicated that the next steps will come after passing the Maritime Council. This meeting took place on Monday, according to one source.
While cruise staff were initially through General Motors’s decision to withdraw the plug on the Robotaxi development program, they expected such an advertisement for weeks.
The sources that spoke to Techcrunch said that they were barely working and in a state of forgetfulness since General Motors announced while waiting for the next steps. On Monday afternoon, Glding sent a Slack to the employees, saying that he expects to share “some news related to the transition plans tomorrow” and advised the employees to “plan to work from home.”
“Thank you for your chest during this time – we know that uncertainty was difficult, but you have moved in the past weeks with grace and professional efficiency,” Glidden wrote.
Glding had previously held the position of GM Policy Executive Vice President, but the auto company cost him his role in Cruise In November 2023After the integrity of the marine flights that led to the fall of the company.
On October 2, 2023, Robotaki Cruz ran on one of the infantry that was closed on his way by a car driven by a person. Then Robotaxi pulled the infantry, which was stuck under the car, about 20 feet while trying to maneuver.
Corporation officials did not participate in this relevant information with the authorities, and when it was revealed, the California Automobile and Public Facilities Committee immediately commented on the company’s work. After that, Cruz relied on its entire robotics fleet across the United States, and many leadership team, including co -founder and CEO, Kyle Vouget.
After installing a new leadership, including permanent safety officials, Cruz was preparing to re -launch at the beginning of this year in Austin. The company spent a lot of testing in 2024 in Phoenix, Dallas, Houston, the Gulf region and equipped its safety systems. Two sources familiar with the Techcrunch matter were told that the company was ready to implement a updated sensor solution referred to internally as Rhino Project, which could have been solved for the October 2 accident by creating additional awareness and awareness under the car.
In June 2024, General Motors achieved another $ 850 million on a cruise, which led to its total spending on the company since it obtained most of the cruise shares in 2016 approximately $ 10 billion. In September, Elchene, the president and a chief technical technician, delivered a huge party for the cruise tour employees that some read was a sign that the company was advancing.