After a pedestrian accident last month that led the company to suspend its testing – and drew with it a fresh round of government scrutiny – GM is cutting back its investment in its Cruise autonomous driving segment.
The division, which had previously operated under the motto “zero crashes, zero emissions, zero congestion”, will detail this week how much it plans on cutting its budget, according to a new report from FT.
The Financial Times reported that the division won’t drop the slogan entirely, but will spend less on the segment. GM had previously invested about $700 million per quarter and Cruise operated in several U.S. cities, with San Francisco being the most prominent.
The spending cuts have people questioning the economics of Cruise as a business. GM had bought out Softbank’s minority share in the segment for $2.1 billion last year and now owns 80% of Cruise. It has invested “billions” in total into the company, the report notes.
Barclays auto analyst Dan Levy, speculating as to whether or not financial conditions could further mire the project, told FT: “The big question is to what extent ‘Zero Zero Zero’ also hinged on zero rates.”
“This has been a…
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