cruise automation funding

• Today's news
• Reviews and deals
• Climate change
• 2024 election
• Newsletters
• Fall allergies
• Health news
• Mental health
• Sexual health
• Family health
• So mini ways
• Unapologetically
• Buying guides

Entertainment

• How to Watch
• My Portfolio
• Latest News
• Stock Market
• The Morning Brief
• Biden Economy
• Stocks: Most Actives
• Stocks: Gainers
• Stocks: Losers
• Trending Tickers
• World Indices
• US Treasury Bonds Rates
• Top Mutual Funds
• Options: Highest Open Interest
• Options: Highest Implied Volatility
• Basic Materials
• Communication Services
• Consumer Cyclical
• Consumer Defensive
• Financial Services
• Industrials
• Real Estate
• Stock Comparison
• Advanced Chart
• Currency Converter
• Credit Cards
• Balance Transfer Cards
• Cash-back Cards
• Rewards Cards
• Travel Cards
• Credit Card Offers
• Best Free Checking
• Student Loans
• Personal Loans
• Car insurance
• Mortgage Refinancing
• Mortgage Calculator
• Editor's Picks
• Investing Insights
• Trending Stocks
• Morning Brief
• Opening Bid
• Fantasy football
• Pro Pick 'Em
• College Pick 'Em
• Fantasy baseball
• Fantasy hockey
• Fantasy basketball
• Download the app
• Daily fantasy
• Scores and schedules
• GameChannel
• World Baseball Classic
• Premier League
• CONCACAF League
• Champions League
• Motorsports
• Horse racing

New on Yahoo

• Privacy Dashboard

Yahoo Finance

Gm shuts the door on a cruise ipo by sealing a $3.45 billion deal for control of the robotaxi firm.

General Motors looks to have put the final kibosh on any dreams of greater autonomy Cruise may have once had.

Late on Friday, GM said it had bought SoftBank out of the robotaxi developer, acquiring its stake for $2.1 billion and, separately, pledging to honor the Japanese venture capital firm’s commitment to inject a further $1.35 billion into the company. Cruise confirmed separately that this ended the debate over whether it would seek an initial public offering.

“Upon the successful completion of the transactions, the company’s ownership position in Cruise will be approximately 80% (on a fully diluted basis), and SoftBank will no longer have an ownership interest in or have any rights with respect to Cruise,”  GM said in a regulatory filing to the SEC .

The Vision Fund says goodbye

The Japanese company’s famed Vision Fund, behind such early investment bets as Jack Ma’s Alibaba, had initially invested $900 million in Cruise in 2018 and had been on the hook for a follow-on investment of $1.35 billion once the startup began operating fully driverless cars, a feat achieved in February .

At the time, GM said Cruise’s soft launch of a commercial service in San Francisco was a “major milestone” on its way toward demanding payment for rides and eventually generating $50 billion in annual revenue by the end of the decade.

The move to bind Cruise more closely to the Detroit carmaker follows the ouster in December of Dan Ammann, Cruise’s independently minded chief executive. Afterward, GM executives told CNBC the two now “ totally align ” in terms of strategy.

Ammann was believed to be focusing his efforts on an IPO , rebuffing GM CEO Mary Barra’s desire to see the company aid her plans for rolling out more advanced automated features like Ultra Cruise expected to debut in 2023 in its upcoming Cadillac Celestiq.

As if to underscore that point, Cruise indicated separately on Friday it was issuing to employees a new form of equity that could offer “potential upside for employees but without all the distractions of being a public company.”

In a statement posted to its website, cofounder and CEO Kyle Vogt said the new “Recurring Liquidity Opportunity,” or RLO for short, would level the playing field with publicly traded companies when it comes to recruiting the best and brightest engineers. This would obviate any need in the foreseeable future to list on the capital markets in order to better compete for top talent.

“Our cash position is strong, so an IPO is not a necessary or appropriate distraction at this time,“ Vogt said.

Tesla an outlier

Cruise is in a race with Alphabet’s Waymo, Intel’s Mobileye, Amazon’s Zoox, and Elon Musk’s Tesla to develop robotaxis in the West, as well as Pony.AI and Baidu in China.

While all are working to bring highly automated driving safely to market, the real prize is turning the cutting-edge technology into a viable commercial business by being the first to reach economies of scale.

Only then do analysts believe these vehicles—equipped with the most advanced computing power and sensor capabilities on the market—can compete on cost with traditional ride-hailing companies that still rely on human drivers, including conventional taxis as well as Uber and Lyft .

Carmakers by comparison are often less interested in operating a fleet of robotaxis.

Premium brands Mercedes-Benz and BMW have been content to sit on the sidelines, with only a few, including Volkswagen , confirming interest . That’s one reason why Intel’s Mobileye is teaming up with German rental agency Sixt for its first pilot in Europe this year.

Instead most carmakers are primarily hoping to sell less advanced and more affordable versions of the technology to private car buyers by starting out with more rudimentary lane-keeping systems for the highway that offer hands-free driving like GM’s Super Cruise and gradually increasing capabilities.

Only Tesla believes it can soon offer affordable competitive robotaxis by doing away with expensive sensors like lidar, which visualizes its surrounding environment using extremely precise laser pulses, and relying solely on comparatively cheap cameras instead.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

We've detected unusual activity from your computer network

To continue, please click the box below to let us know you're not a robot.

Why did this happen?

Please make sure your browser supports JavaScript and cookies and that you are not blocking them from loading. For more information you can review our Terms of Service and Cookie Policy .

For inquiries related to this message please contact our support team and provide the reference ID below.

• Cruise Automation
• autonomous driving

In California, self-driving cars are immune to traffic tickets

Anyone living in San Francisco knows that the city has been a testing ground for hundreds of self-driving cars – and there is probably a good reason why. In light of a series of incidents, including a pedestrian who was seriously injured by a Cruise robotaxi last year, California law enforcement has its hands tied when it comes to issuing moving violations when no human is behind the wheel.

Rule change now allows deliveries of self-driving vehicles without steering wheels or pedals

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has officially changed a long-standing rule that is now creating a path for automakers to deliver self-driving vehicles without steering wheels or pedals.

Cruise receives $5 billion credit line from GM to purchase Origin EVs

In a Tweet earlier today, autonomous rideshare company Cruise, announced it has secured a multi-year credit line of $5 billion from GM financial, to help purchase thousands of Origin vehicles. This new credit line will give Cruise $10 billion in total capital to help roll out its autonomous Origin vehicles manufactured by GM.

• Chevy Bolt EV
• Jaguar I-Pace

Waymo and Cruise hope to charge for autonomous rides in California [update]

Autonomous rideshare rivals Waymo and Cruise have both reportedly applied for permits to charge passengers for self-driving rides in the San Francisco Bay area. Some of the applications are still under review, but it could be a major step toward autonomous rideshare vehicles operating as commonplace soon.

Voyage acquired by Cruise to advance self-driving services

Self-driving startup Voyage announced it has been acquired by Cruise, a larger autonomous driving company. The California-based company previously made breakthroughs in self-driving technologies by transporting senior citizens around their communities. Voyage looks to pair its previous research with Cruise’s substantial resources to expand self-driving services to all.

GM’s Cruise self-driving startup raises $2 billion led by Microsoft

GM announced that Cruise, its self-driving startup, has raised a new $2 billion financing round led by Microsoft.

The software giant is putting some skin in the self-driving game.

GM pushes feds to approve Chevy Bolts with no steering wheel

It’s been nearly two years since GM provided images of a next-generation Bolt EV that lacks a steering wheel or pedals. All of a sudden, in the past couple weeks, top GM execs have been talking up its electric hatch as a self-driving platform. Now Reuters reports that CEO Mary Barra met last week with US Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao to discuss getting those robo-Bolts on the road.

Expand Expanding Close

GM’s self-driving unit Cruise gets $1.15 billion investment, now valued at $19 billion

Cruise Automation announced today it’s secured a new $1.15 billion in funding, the latest in a long line of large investments into GM’s self-driving division.

GM is bringing its all-electric and autonomous Chevy Bolt EV prototypes to New York

After testing their all-electric and autonomous Chevy Bolt EV prototypes in California, Michigan, and Arizona, GM’s Cruise Automation vehicles are going to New York City to further test their system in a difficult traffic environment. Expand Expanding Close

GM claims to be ready to mass produce self-driving Chevy Bolt EVs

As part of its effort to bring self-driving vehicles to market, GM has claimed today that their autonomous driving division has produced “the first real self-driving car (really).” Expand Expanding Close

GM’s Cruise launches beta autonomous ride-sharing app with Chevy Bolt EVs

GM’s autonomous driving division, Cruise Automation, announced the launch of the beta version of its autonomous ride-sharing app currently being used by employees in San Francisco, where they operate a fleet of autonomous Chevy Bolt EV test vehicles.

The new service is called ‘Cruise Anywhere’ and the company claims that it is already becoming the primary mode of transport for some of its employees. Expand Expanding Close

GM announces completed production of 130 autonomous Chevy Bolt EVs

Earlier this year, GM announced that it is growing its fleet of autonomous Chevy Bolt EV prototypes for its ‘GM Cruise’ startup.

Now the automaker announced the completion of the first batch of 130 prototypes at its Orion Assembly Plant located in Orion Township, Michigan. Expand Expanding Close

Watch GM’s self-driving Chevy Bolt EV prototype slow down for a raccoon [Video]

Cruise Automation, GM’s startup working on self-driving technology, has been releasing videos of its Bolt EV prototypes driving autonomously around San Francisco in order to show its progress.

The latest one released today shows the vehicle at night, which can create different driving conditions – like encounters with nocturnal creatures. Expand Expanding Close

GM is increasing its self-driving Chevy Bolt EV test fleet to 300 vehicles – likely largest fleet yet

As we often like to highlight when talking about self-driving development programs, data can make all the difference. And the best way to accumulate a lot of data is through large test fleets. While Tesla went the way of adding sensors to all its production vehicles to gather data, most other automakers and tech companies are doing it through captive test fleets, which all vary in sizes.

GM could be about to get the largest of those fleets by increasing their number of test vehicles, Chevy Bolt EVs with Cruise Automation’s sensor suite, from just 50 to 300. Expand Expanding Close

GM turns to California for self-driving talent, announces 1,100 new jobs through Cruise Automation

Last year, GM stepped into the autonomous driving scene by acquiring Cruise Automation, a startup  with Tesla Autopilot engineering talent and founded by Twitch co-founder . It enabled GM to tap into the software talent in California to build its future self-driving technology.

Now GM announces that it plans to add 1,100 jobs in California through Cruise in order to expand its self-driving effort. The move is likely to make the hiring scene for autonomous driving even more competitive for companies than it already is… Expand Expanding Close

• Andrew Gray

GM acquires self-driving car startup with Tesla Autopilot engineering talent and founded by Twitch co-founder

GM confirmed today that it is acquiring the self-driving car startup Cruise Automation for an undisclosed amount. The company was founded in 2013 by Kyle Vogt who is best known for being one of the co-founder of the streaming website Twitch.

Cruise’s goal was to build self-driving technology that works on your existing car, which took the form of the sensor package RP-1 prototype (see picture above and video below). Expand Expanding Close

Manage push notifications

Best viewed in portrait mode

Driving cities forward

Our mission.

Safety first, always

43,000+ people died on U.S. roads last year. We believe that self-driving technology will save lives and make roads safer.

Accessibility

Innovation for everyone

Cruise's path to autonomous driving creates opportunities for increased mobility and independence.

See how Cruise is helping our nonprofit partners achieve their mission.

Marc Whitten

Chief Executive Officer

Mo Elshenawy

President and CTO

Craig B. Glidden

President and CAO

Cruise Board

Mary T. Barra

Aneel Bhusri

Our partners

Majority owned by General Motors since 2016, Cruise combines a culture of innovative technology and safety with a history of manufacturing and automotive excellence. Cruise has received funding from other leading companies and investors—including Honda, Microsoft, T. Rowe Price, and Walmart.

Cruise clears key hurdle to getting robotaxis back on roads in California

Cruise , the self-driving subsidiary of General Motors, has agreed to pay a $112,500 fine for failing to provide full information about an accident involving one of its robotaxis last year. The settlement with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) not only avoids litigation, it puts Cruise in a position to restart operations in the state.

The settlement agreement “bring[s] this dispute to a close” allowing the Commission staff to “devote their resources to Cruise’s regulatory oversight rather than engage in potentially protracted litigation,” reads the ruling. In an emailed statement, Cruise said the company is “gratified” to have reached a settlement, noting that the company has taken “important steps to improve our leadership, processes and culture.” 

Cruise received backlash in October 2023 after a Cruise robotaxi ran over a pedestrian that had been flung into its path after being hit by a human-driven vehicle. The robotaxi then dragged the pedestrian 20 feet as it was attempting a pullover maneuver, a fact that Cruise staff didn’t immediately share with the CPUC and other state and federal regulators when they probed the company. That withholding of information resulted in both the CPUC and the California Department of Motor Vehicles pulling Cruise’s permits to operate driverless vehicles in the state. 

Since then, Cruise has implemented a series of “corrective measures” that seem to have satisfied many of the CPUC’s concerns about the company’s continued autonomous vehicle operations. The agency’s ruling points to actions Cruise has taken, including retaining law firm Quinn Emanuel to conduct an internal investigation of Cruise’s operational structure, creating a more transparent corporate operation and instigating the departure of personnel like former CEO Kyle Vogt .

The Commission noted that Cruise has taken responsibility for its past failures and promises to be more transparent with the agency in the future. Cruise also appears to be getting brownie points for seeking to “resolve this dispute expeditiously,” rather than letting the matter go through the expensive and time-consuming slog of decisions, appeals and rehearings. 

“We conclude that by taking these corrective measures, Cruise is on its way to restoring public trust by making itself a more transparent and cooperative entity that will not hide material information from regulatory agencies who oversee its AV transportation services,” reads the ruling.

As part of the agreement, Cruise is also required to regularly share incident information with the CPUC. This includes increased collision reporting as well as monthly reports on incidents involving stopped AVs that must be physically retrieved from the field. 

Before the infamous October 2 incident, Cruise had also been criticized by members of the public, politicians and law enforcement agencies because its robotaxis had a bad habit of malfunctioning in the middle of traffic . 

Cruise has been slowly making its way back onto public roads in other states that have less regulatory red tape. Since April, the AV company has deployed small fleets with human safety operators behind the wheel in Phoenix , Houston and Dallas to map and restart testing. 

Cruise may take a similar tack in California, where competitor Waymo is quickly gaining ground . The DMV suspended Cruise’s permits to test and deploy vehicles without a human driver in the front seat, and the CPUC suspended Cruise’s permits to charge for any such service. But Cruise still has an active permit with the DMV to test its vehicles with a safety driver, something the company might lean on as it attempts to close its last chapter and move forward. 

A company spokesperson told TechCrunch that Cruise is committed to rebuilding trust with regulators, officials and communities in San Francisco, Cruise’s hometown, and everywhere it previously operated. Both the DMV and Cruise have confirmed that the company has taken steps to have its other permits reinstated, but neither shared any other updates or a timeline. A Cruise spokesperson said the DMV permits are a necessary condition to reapply for CPUC permits.  

The CPUC did not respond to TechCrunch’s query if the agency is preparing to re-approve any of Cruise’s permits.

More TechCrunch

Get the industry’s biggest tech news, techcrunch daily news.

Every weekday and Sunday, you can get the best of TechCrunch’s coverage.

Startups Weekly

Startups are the core of TechCrunch, so get our best coverage delivered weekly.

TechCrunch Fintech

The latest Fintech news and analysis, delivered every Tuesday.

TechCrunch Mobility

TechCrunch Mobility is your destination for transportation news and insight.

Fidelity has cut X’s value by 79% since Musk purchase

Elon Musk’s X is now valued at less than a quarter of its $44 billion purchase price, according to a new estimate from investor Fidelity.  The asset manager, which helped…

Here is what’s illegal under California’s 18 (and counting) new AI laws

In September, California Governor Gavin Newsom considered 38 AI-related bills, including the highly contentious SB 1047, which the state’s legislature sent to his desk for final approval. He vetoed SB…

Gov. Newsom vetoes California’s controversial AI bill, SB 1047

California Governor Gavin Newsom has vetoed SB 1047, a high-profile bill that would have regulated the development of AI. The bill was authored by State Senator Scott Wiener and would…

YouTube blocks videos from Adele, Green Day, Bob Dylan, others in dispute with SESAC

A number of YouTube videos featuring music from artists such as Adele, Green Day, Bob Dylan, Nirvana, and R.E.M. have been unplayable in the United States since Saturday. For example,…

New York tech investor and serial entrepreneur Kevin Ryan explains when to sell your company

Kevin Ryan has had a long and storied career as a pivotal force of New York City tech. He’s the founder and CEO of investment firm AlleyCorp, which has invested…

Featured Article

Elastic founder on returning to open source four years after going proprietary

Licensing kerfuffles have long been a defining facet of the commercial open source space. Some of the biggest vendors have switched to a more restrictive “copyleft” license, as Grafana and Element have done, or gone full proprietary, as HashiCorp did last year with Terraform. But one $8 billion company has…

How I Podcast: Hyperfixed’s Alex Goldman

This week, Alex Goldman shares his setup. A former producer for WYNC’s On the Media, Goldman co-founded Reply-All with Emmanuel Dzotsi in 2014.

Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold: Bigger, mostly better

The Pixel 9 Pro Fold is back, bigger and better than before, with a thinner design and excellent tri-camera system.

In war-torn Sudan, a displaced startup incubator returns to fuel innovation

Businesses need stability to thrive. Unfortunately for anyone in Sudan, stability has been hard to come by for the past year and a half as the country quakes amidst a raging civil war. More than 20,000 people have been killed, and about 7.7 million people have been displaced just within…

X faces additional $1.9M fine to end ban in Brazil

X (formerly Twitter) could soon resume service in Brazil — if it’s willing to pay an additional fine. Reuters and other publications have reported on an order from the country’s…

Meta rethinks smart glasses with Orion

Meta Connect 2024 was this week, showcasing new hardware and software to support two of the company’s big ambitions: AI and the metaverse. CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced new Quest headsets,…

Brian Williams might host a live election night special for Amazon

Amazon Prime Video could be getting into the live news business, if only for one night. Variety reports that the company is in talks with longtime NBC and MSNBC news…

Judge is unimpressed by Apple’s deadline extension request in Epic Games dispute

Apple faces a looming deadline to produce what it says are more than 1 million documents related to recent App Store changes. On Friday, Judge Thomas S. Hixson denied the…

Meta offers a glimpse through its supposed iPhone killer: Orion

For years, Silicon Valley and Wall Street have questioned Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to invest tens of billions of dollars into Reality Labs. This week, Meta’s wearables division unveiled a prototype…

VCs expect a surge in startups offering lower rate mortgages, other loans now that the Feds cut rates

When the U.S. Feds cut interest rates by half a percentage point last week, it was a dash of good news for venture capitalists backing one particularly beleaguered class of…

Robot hand can detach from arm, crawl over to objects, and pick them up

The video debuted along with a research paper of the same name at IEEE’s International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Rotterdam this week.

Best iPad apps to boost productivity and make your life easier

There are many iPad apps to help you organize recipes; sync tasks across devices; be more productive; and manage your notes.

Why Index Ventures is bulking up its investment team in NYC

While online discourse would make it seem that venture has retreated to the Bay Area, with San Francisco being the most important place to build a startup, Index Ventures is…

A Russian warlord said he’ll take Cybertrucks into Ukraine; some experts think that’s unwise

In August, a Russian warlord posted a video on Telegram, showing a pair of Cybertrucks patrolling a road in Chechnya, armed seemingly with heavy machine guns. Leaving aside unanswerable (for…

WordPress.org temporarily lifts its ban on WP Engine

WordPress.org has lifted its ban on hosting provider WP Engine until October 1, after putting a block on it earlier this week. The block prevented several sites from updating their…

The WordPress vs. WP Engine drama, explained

The world of WordPress, one of the most popular technologies for creating and hosting websites, is going through a very heated controversy. The core issue is the fight between WordPress…

OpenAI might raise the price of ChatGPT to $44 by 2029

ChatGPT could get more expensive to use in coming years. The New York Times, citing internal OpenAI docs, reports that OpenAI is planning to raise the price of individual ChatGPT…

Binance founder ‘CZ’ released from custody after four-month sentence

Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao was released from U.S. custody on Friday after serving out his four-month sentence in a low-security correctional facility. CZ’s sentence was the product of a…

Canoo hit with two supplier lawsuits as last remaining co-founder leaves

EV startup Canoo has been hit with two new lawsuits from suppliers linked to the drivetrains that power its electric vehicles, just weeks after the company kicked off a major…

AI dominated both YC Demo Day and startup news

Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups. Want it in your inbox every Friday? Sign up here. This week…

Iranian hackers charged with hacking Trump campaign to ‘stoke discord’

Three Iranian hackers working for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targeted the Trump campaign in an attempted hack-and-leak operation, according to the Department of Justice.

Wordy’s new app helps you learn vocabulary while watching movies and TV shows

Wordy is a new iOS app that offers a unique way to learning English. The app automatically translates and defines unknown words while you watch your favorite movies or TV…

OpenAI’s $6.5B funding round may close as soon as next week

The WSJ reports that OpenAI’s next funding round, worth around $6.5 billion, could close as soon as the first week in October.

Bret Taylor of Sierra joins TechCrunch Disrupt 2024

We’re thrilled to welcome Bret Taylor to TechCrunch Disrupt 2024. As the former co-CEO of Salesforce, founder of Quip, former CTO of Facebook, the co-creator of Google Maps, and current…

Amazon dodges antitrust scrutiny in UK over Anthropic investment

The U.K.s’ antitrust authority has concluded that Amazon’s partnership and equity investment in AI startup Anthropic can’t be investigated under current merger rules due to the size and scope of…

Save up to 50% on European River Cruises!

Are you looking for an incredible European river cruise at a terrific price? If so, you’ve come to the right place!

Sail in a beautifully appointed ship past amazing landscapes to cities and towns along the river. Some trips also include a hotel stay before or after your river cruise.

Accommodations, many meals and beverages, guided sightseeing and more are covered in the upfront price. Plus, the discounts and deals offered on this site will greatly reduce the amount you pay.

Our fast and friendly River Cruise Specialists will save you time in the planning process, too. Please give us a call and we’ll be happy to help!

Now in our 41 st year, Vacations To Go is the largest cruise-selling company in the world. We've built a reputation for discounts, service and professionalism that is second to none.

Price Guarantee We work with every major river cruise company in the world, and you'll find their lowest authorized prices on this site. However, if you ever find a lower price for the same ship, date and stateroom category, before booking, we'll match it.*

Service Guarantee Our cruise counselors are fast and friendly. However, if you are ever dissatisfied with any aspect of our service or our Web site, please click here to tell me about it. I will respond as quickly as possible, and always within 24 hours.

* The lower rate must be advertised on a competitor's website and available for booking at the time you contact us; offer does not apply to group rates.