General Motors (GM) pauses production of Cruise driverless van

Detroit automaker, General Motors (NYSE: GM) revealed Monday that the company plans to pause production on their Cruise fully autonomous Cruise Origin van. The announcement comes just days following an announcement that GM would pause driverless operations.

Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt, in a staff meeting, told workers that the company has produced hundreds of Origin vehicles already, and that it is "more than enough for the near-term when we are ready to ramp things back up."

"We are finishing production on a small number of pre-commercial vehicles and after that, plan to temporarily pause production." Said a GM spokesperson.

"We believe autonomous vehicles will transform the way people move around the world, and the Origin is an important part of the AV journey."

Cruise announced last month that they would suspend nationwide operations following the revocation of its license by California regulators. The regulators cited concerns that the deployment of self-driving vehicles posed a risk to public safety.

In February 2022, Cruise sought approval from U.S. regulators to deploy as many as 2,500 self-driving Origin vehicles annually, eliminating the need for human controls such as steering wheels.

Although the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) had initially anticipated reaching a decision on the petition within a few weeks, a recent investigation was launched last month to determine whether Cruise has implemented adequate measures to protect pedestrians. This investigation comes in the wake of a previous probe initiated in December, which is still ongoing.

Cruise's board has appointed the law firm Quinn Emanuel to conduct a comprehensive review of Cruise management's handling of the investigation into an accident that occurred on October 2. Additionally, the board has enlisted the services of technology consultancy Exponent to evaluate Cruise's technological systems.

Shares of GM are down 0.69% in pre-market trading on Tuesday.

By Michael Elkins | [email protected]

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