Yahoo Autos GM's Cruise Ditches Origin Robotaxi for Self-Driving 2025 Bolt EV
In a letter to shareholders, CEO Mary Barra said that Cruise is about to turn its focus to adapting the next-generation Bolt electric vehicle, instead of the Origin, for autonomous driving.
Barra said that there is "regulatory uncertainty" with the Origin, which didn't have a steering wheel or pedals.
Cruise's current test cars are based on the original Bolt EV, with Chevy expected to launch a new Bolt next year.
The future will have to wait. The Cruise Origin, an autonomous lounge on wheels that General Motors had believed would lead the shift to driverless cars, has been officially canceled. Production of the Origin had been due to start in 2023, but after a number of high-profile incidents involving the company's Chevy Bolt–based test cars, California revoked Cruise's permits, and Cruise paused operations nationwide.
Now, in a letter to shareholders, CEO Mary Barra has said that Cruise's future will center around the next-generation Bolt instead of the Origin. The core reason is to avoid "the regulatory uncertainty we faced with the Origin because of its unique design," according to Barra.
Bolt Should Be Cheaper to Develop
The Origin was effectively a box on wheels with an interior fully dedicated to the passengers and no physical controls such as a steering wheel or pedals. The radical design, however, made the regulatory process tricky. The per-unit costs are also expected to be lower for a Bolt-based vehicle, Barra said, since it will share parts with another mass-produced vehicle.
The Origin robotaxi was supposed to rake in money for GM through a ride-hailing service, and Cruise said in 2022 that it would deploy tens of thousands of Origins over the next few years. While Cruise was able to assemble a number of pre-production Origins for validation testing, that is as far as the company would get, with the permit suspension and resulting operational pause ringing the death knell for the Origin.
Ironically, while the Bolt-based self-driving cars spelled the end for the Origin, the upcoming next-generation Bolt—due in 2025—will provide new life for Cruise. Barra didn't reveal any other details about Cruise's plans, and little is known about the next Bolt either.
Earlier this summer, Cruise reappeared on the streets of Houston, Phoenix, and Dallas doing testing, but those vehicles have not been seen using autonomous driving mode. Cruise also recently introduced a new CEO, Marc Whitten, a former executive at Amazon and Microsoft. While Cruise has been able to cut expenses by $200 million in the second quarter of 2024 versus 2023, Cruise still reported an operating loss of $1.14 billion.
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