cruise automation leadership

Sign up for our newsletter and receive the latest automotive news in your inbox!

• Automobiles
• EVs & Environment
• Lawsuits/Legal
• Ride-Sharing
• Safety & Recalls
• The Rearview Mirror: A Sports Car from a Company You've Never Heard Of

Analysts Predict Declining Tesla Sales in Q3

Overlanding is the new hotness.

• New Vehicle Sales Increase in September
• Are EVs Affordable? Only if You’re a Luxury Buyer
• Honda Takes Wraps Off New All-Electric Prologue
• Mercedes to Offer True Self-Driving in Late 2023
• Biden Meets UAW Picketers, Offers Support
• Ford Halts $3.5B MI Battery Plant; Fain Slams Company
• An Electric Acura NSX Could Be Coming

• Classic Cars
• Concept Cars
• Convertibles
• Crossovers/CUVs
• Hot hatches
• Luxury Vehicles
• Muscle Cars
• Sports Cars
• A Week With: 2024 Buick Encore GX Sport Touring AWD
• A Week With: 2023 Mercedes-Benz EQB 250+
• A Week With: 2024 Mazda CX-90 Turbo S Premium Plus
• A Week With: 2024 Mercedes-AMG EQE SUV
• A Week With: The 2024 BMW i7 xDrive60
• A Week With: 2024 Alfa Romeo Tonale Veloce AWD
• A Week With: 2023 Toyota Camry XSE Hybrid
• A Week With: 2024 Subaru Impreza RS
• A Week With: 2023 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 Desert Boss
• First Drive: 2024 Polestar 2
• Endurance Warranty Reviews
• BMW Extended Warranty
• Extended Warranty For Cars Over 100k Miles
• Extended Car Warranty Cost
• Subaru Extended Warranty
• CarShield Reviews
• CarShield Cost
• Aftermarket Car Warranty
• CARCHEX Warranty Reviews
• Reputable Extended Car Warranty Companies
• Used Car Warranty Companies
• Best Car Warranty
• Is CarShield A Scam?
• Mercedes Extended Warranty
• CarShield Plans
• How To Identify A Car Insurance Company
• Geico Mechanical Breakdown Insurance
• How Far Back Does A Car Insurance Company Look
• Mechanical Breakdown Insurance For Used Cars
• State Farm Mechanical Breakdown Insurance
• Mechanical Breakdown Insurance From Progressive
• Dollar A Day Insurance
• Auto Insurance For SSI Recipients
• Car Insurance Rates After A Suspended License
• Auto Insurance For Salvage Vehicles
• Average Cost of Dodge Ram 1500 Car Insurance
• Car Insurance Florida
• Full Coverage Auto Insurance
• GrubHub Insurance
• Amazon Delivery Auto Insurance
• Car Shipping Companies
• uShip Reviews
• Auto Shipping From California To Hawaii
• Montway Auto Transport Reviews
• Cheap Car Shipping
• Easy Auto Ship Reviews
• Auto Shipping Miami
• Auto Shipping To Alaska
• Car Shipping Cost
• Auto Shipping Hawaii
• Auto Shipping Puerto Rico
• Sherpa Auto Transport Reviews
• Auto Shipping Atlanta
• Auto Shipping Boston
• Auto Shipping. Chicago
• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Affiliate Disclosure

More than just “another” place to find news, reviews, spy shots, commentary, features, and guides about the auto industry. TheDetroitBureau doesn’t stop with the press releases or confuse a few lines of opinion with insightful, in-depth reporting.

Like what you see? Have some ideas for making The Detroit Bureau.com even better? Let us know, we’d love to hear your voice.

Please leave this field empty.

• Headlight News: All Episodes
• Latest News
• Auto Reviews

TheDetroitBureau.com’s Headlight News offers a look at the past week’s top automotive news stories, as well as what’s coming up in the week ahead. Check out the week’s top story and our latest review…along with a dive into the past with this week in automotive history.

Dan Ammann Departs Role as Cruise CEO

Former gm president leaves gm self-driving vehicle subsidiary..

General Motors confirmed the departure of Dan Ammann, one of the key executives, responsible for guiding the company back from bankruptcy and into the transition toward electric and autonomous vehicles. 

“General Motors Co. announced that Dan Ammann, chief executive officer of Cruise, is leaving the company. Kyle Vogt, Cruise President, and Chief Technical Officer will serve as interim CEO. In addition, Wesley Bush, the former Chairman and CEO of Northrop Grumman and a GM board member, will join the Cruise Board,” GM said in a statement issued after the stock market closed for the day. 

GM’s announcement made no mention of Ammann’s plans after his departure. Earlier this week, when GM announced the impending departure of Pam Fletcher, the company’s chief innovation officer, the automaker noted she was going to a new position with Delta Airlines and move into her new job on Feb. 1.  

Ammann originally joined GM more than a decade ago in the wake of the company’s bankruptcy in 2009.  

The New Zealand-born Ammann was name GM’s Treasurer in 2010 after a career on Wall Street where he was widely considered a rising star. At the time, GM operated under the watchful eye of the U.S. Treasury Department and the company’s traditional management had been pushed aside in favor of outsiders. 

Played key role in post-bankruptcy GM 

Ammann is credited with helping organize GM’s successful IPO in 2011 and was considered a key lieutenant by the outsiders, first Ed Whitacre and then Dan Akerson, who were brought in to serve as GM’s chief executive officer. He became CFO and in 2014 was promoted to GM President and was frequently mentioned as a potential successor to GM CEO Mary Barra. 

Ammann was GM’s president until November 2018  when he moved from Detroit to San Francisco to take over as CEO of Cruise, GM’s new automated driving subsidiary. At the time, there was something of a boom around autonomous vehicles. But since then, AV’s have since proven difficult to engineer, diluting investor enthusiasm. 

Despite that, serious  work on autonomous continues with Cruise testing driverless AVs in San Francisco earlier this year with the approval of the State of California. 

Future plans under debate 

However, with shares of new electric vehicle stocks such as Rivian and Lucid booming, GM has come under pressure from investors and Wall Street to spin off Cruise, which is still basically a startup company with little revenue and heavy losses, into what appears to be a hot market for transportation-oriented issues.  

Barra, however, has opposed the idea of a spinoff publicly  and she also has taken steps to tie Cruise more tightly to GM. Cruise recently confirmed it will begin assembling the Origin, the new autonomous vehicle it intends to sell initially in the Middle East in 2023 or 2024, at a GM factory in Detroit. 

Barra also said during the “Investors Day” presentation in Detroit this fall she expects Cruise to remain an integral part of GM’s plans and the company’s value equation, a point re-iterated in GM’s statement on Ammann’s departure. Ammann never suggested, at least publicly, that he disagreed with Barra’s plans. 

“Alongside this leadership change, GM will accelerate the strategy the company detailed in its recent Investor Day, in which Cruise will play an integral role in building GM’s autonomous vehicle (AV) platform as GM aggressively pursues addressable AV markets beyond rideshare and delivery, “the GM statement said. 

The GM statement added GM is deeply committed to its vision of zero crashes, zero emissions, zero congestion, and AV technology will play a critical role in realizing it. 

“Under GM’s ownership to date, Cruise has seized the leadership position in commercial autonomous ridesharing and has created significant value for both GM shareholders and Cruise’s minority shareholders,” the statement said. 

“By continuing to work together, GM and Cruise bring massive manufacturing and technological scale to autonomy that will rapidly drive costs down. The integrated strategy will also maximize GM and Cruise’s total addressable market by leveraging synergies, leading to greater, more sustainable value for both GM and Cruise shareholders,” the statement said. 

Cheap Car Warranty

Best Extended Car Warranty

The Rearview Mirror: A Sports Car from a Company You’ve Never Heard Of

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Special Features

Vendor voice.

CEO of self-driving cab outfit Cruise parks his career

After string of self-driving crashes, kyle vogt plans to 'spend time with my family and explore some new ideas'.

Updated The CEO of self-driving cab outfit Cruise has parked his career and strolled off into the sunset.

Kyle Vogt founded Cruise Automation in 2013. The startup was acquired by General Motors in 2016, and worked to develop a driverless taxi service that commenced operations on the streets of San Francisco in 2022.

Cruise has had a bumpy ride ever since. Here’s a timeline of its problems:

• September 2022: Recalled software after a Cruisemobile caused an accident by incorrectly predicting the behavior of another car;
• April 2023: Updates software after one of its cars hit a bendy bus – a vehicle it was ill-equipped to predict;
• August 2023: A Cruise cab drove into wet cement and became stuck;
• Also in August 2023: Ten Cruise cars froze and caused a traffic snarl, prompting San Francisco authorities to reduce the size of Cruise's permitted robo-car fleet;
• October 2023: Two collisions with pedestrians, one of which saw a woman hit by a human driver and then fall under the wheels of a Cruise cab, blamed on Cruise's automatic driving system being bad at detecting people;
• November 7, 2023: Vogt admits Cruise's cars need a human driver aboard to intervene in case of emergency;
• November 8, 2023: Creates the role of chief safety officer and issues a software patch to improve Cruisemobiles' pedestrian-detection powers, and stop them dragging stricken people along the road;
• November 17, 2023: Takes its entire fleet off the road after losing its license to operate in California.
• Copilot coming to Windows 10 to help navigate the OS's twilight years
• South Korea opens the door for robots to roam among pedestrians
• Use AI to accelerate adoption of central bank digital currencies, says IMF head
• OpenAI pauses ChatGPT Plus sign-ups as it 'hits capacity'

Vogt signed off on X (the microblogging service formerly known as Twitter) with a thread that opened with the simple statement: "Today I resigned from my position as CEO of Cruise."

Subsequent posts noted, "The startup I launched in my garage has given over 250,000 driverless rides across several cities," and saw Vogt opine: "Cruise is still just getting started, and I believe it has a great future ahead." He advised he plans "to spend time with my family and explore some new ideas."

At the time of writing, neither Cruise nor General Motors had posted any info about Vogt's departure.

It's not hard to guess why he resigned: CEOs are supposed to do so after a string of SNAFUs like those listed above. The admission that Cruise cars are not fit to operate without a driver is an especially damning failure that suggests new leadership is needed to ensure Cruise can deliver on its mission.

Cruise's cars are midsized SUVs based on General Motors' Chevrolet Bolt. They include a large and faintly menacing array of sensors mounted on their roof racks, including constantly twirling LIDAR units. When your correspondent ventured from Australia to San Francisco earlier this year, he found passing Cruisemobiles more than a little creepy. And that was before US-based colleagues took him to a rather nice bar, from which he walked home rather than riding a Cruise.

AI was widely predicted to take jobs, but in four days it has done for three AI-related execs. First, Stability's veep for audio Ed Newton-Rex quit after objecting to the firm's data-harvesting policy. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was then ejected for vague reasons. Now Vogt has hit the road. ®

Updated to add

Cruise co-founder and chief product officer Daniel Kan has also resigned .

• Self-driving Car

Narrower topics

• Large Language Model
• Machine Learning
• Neural Networks
• Tensor Processing Unit

Broader topics

Send us news

Other stories you might like

With run:ai acquisition, nvidia aims to manage your ai kubes, ai spam is winning the battle against search engine quality, what's up with ai lately let's start with soaring costs, public anger, regulations..., getting on board with ai.

Forget the AI doom and hype, let's make computers useful

Don't rent out that container ship yet: cios and biz buyers view ai pcs with some caution, google cloud chief is really psyched about this ai thing, law prof predicts generative ai will die at the hands of watchdogs, ai pcs are here but a killer application for biz users nope, psst, hey. it's the nsa. you want some ai security advice, uk unions publish ai bill to protect workers from 'risks and harms' of tech, what's up with alphabet and microsoft lately profits, sales – and ai costs.

• Advertise with us

Our Websites

• The Next Platform
• Blocks and Files

Your Privacy

• Cookies Policy
• Privacy Policy
• Ts & Cs

Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024

Best viewed in portrait mode

New paths ahead

Now in phoenix.

We’re reintroducing a small fleet of manually-operated vehicles to begin mapping with trained safety drivers behind the wheel.

Our mission

We believe driverless technology has the potential to save lives, enhance access and improve communities. Learn more here .

Tue Apr 09 2024

Cruise resumes manual driving as next step in return to driverless mission

Mon Mar 25 2024

A letter from Cruise leadership

Mon Feb 12 2024

Meet Our New Chief Safety Officer

Our services

The future looks bright for driverless ridehail and delivery. We’re working to bring new transportation options that work for you and your community. Learn more here .

Innovation for everyone

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

We're here to help

Your feedback is important to us. Whether you have a question or want to report an issue, our team wants to hear from you. Get in touch here .

Cruise ridehail services are not available at this time, but you can join the waitlist to be one of the first.

Exclusive: GM's Cruise robotaxi unit dismisses nine execs after safety probe

• Medium Text

• Company General Motors Co Follow

Sign up here.

Reporting by Greg Bensinger and David Shepardson; Editing by Richard Chang

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. New Tab , opens new tab

Thomson Reuters

Greg Bensinger joined Reuters as a technology correspondent in 2022 focusing on the world's largest technology companies. He was previously a member of The New York Times editorial board and a technology beat reporter for The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. He also worked for Bloomberg News writing about the auto and telecommunications industries. He studied English literature at The University of Virginia and graduate journalism at Columbia University. Greg lives in San Francisco with his wife and two children.

Business Chevron

Exclusive: elon musk heading to china for visit to tesla's second-biggest market, sources say.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk was on a flight heading to Beijing on Sunday to kick off a surprise trip in the electric vehicle maker's second-biggest market, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

The European Union criticised Russia on Saturday for putting subsidiaries of one Italian and one German company under the "temporary external management" of a Gazprom entity, saying the move underscored Moscow's disregard for international norms.

Cruise Automation CEO and Leadership

CEO & Executives

Cruise Automation CEO and Executives

• The Cruise Automation executive team is 24% female and 76% male .
• 74% of the management team is White .
• 6% of Cruise Automation management is Hispanic or Latino .
• 11% of the management team is Black or African American .

Rate Cruise Automation's leadership communication with employees.

Chief Executive Officer

Daniel Ammann (born 1963) is a Swiss journalist and author. He was educated at University of Zurich, UC Berkeley and Fondation Post Universitaire Internationale in Paris. He holds an MA in Political Science, History and Constitutional Law.

Chief Product Officer & Co-Founder

Dan Kan, a native of Seattle, co-founded Cruise with Kyle Vogt in 2013. Dan currently serves as Cruise’s Chief Product Officer. A successful entrepreneur, Dan started his career at a technology startup called UserVoice. He then founded Exec, an on-demand hospitality service company, and successfully sold Exec to Handy, which in turn was acquired by ANGI Homeservices in 2014. Dan was listed as number 7 on Fortune’s 2016 40 under 40 list for the most influential people in business. He studied economics and psychology at Claremont McKenna College.

Kyle Vogt is an American engineer, entrepreneur, technology executive and robotics pioneer. In 2013, Vogt founded Cruise Automation, where he currently serves as the company's President and Chief Technology Officer. Cruise develops self-driving car technology and, since being acquired in May 2016, operates as an independent subsidiary of General Motors. Vogt and Cruise Co-Founder Dan Kan are the youngest senior directors at GM. Vogt and Kan are listed as number 7 on Fortune's 2016 40 Under 40 List, an annual ranking of the most influential young people in business.

Executive Assistant To Chief Product Officer and Co-Founder

Savannah Leggett is an Executive Assistant to Chief Product Officer and Co-Founder at Cruise and is based in San Francisco, California. She has worked as Executive Assistant to CEO at Rothenberg Ventures and Chief Of Staff at River Ecosystem.

Chief People Officer

Arden Hoffman are a VP:People at Dropbox and Chief People Officer at Cruise. They have experience at Goldman Sachs and have worked as Dir:People Operations at Google and Chief People Officer at Dropbox.

Chief Financial Officer

Prior to Cruise, Bill was the Finance Lead at Oracle, Senior Director of Finance at Theravance Biopharma, and Division CFO at UCB. He joined Cruise because he feels autonomous vehicles will have a profound impact on our lives.

Chief Legal Officer

Jeffrey Bleich is a Chief Legal Officer at Cruise and is based in San Francisco, California. He has worked as President at State Bar of California; Founding Member, California Co-Chair at Obama for America; and Chair of the Board of Directors at Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Jeffrey attended UC Berkeley School of Law between 1986 and 1989, Harvard Kennedy School between 1984 and 1986, and Flinders University between 2014 and 2014.

Chief Communications Officer

Kristine, a fourth-generation Californian, is Cruise's Chief Communications Officer. With over 20 years of experience, Kristine leads the efforts to tackle the communications challenge of a generation and build trust as Cruise solves the engineering challenge of a generation. Before joining Cruise, Kristine was most recently Edelman’s president of the US Western Region, leading 650+ colleagues as well as award-winning campaigns for clients ranging from fast-growing start-ups to prestigious Fortune 50s. She began her career deep in the early days of the tech sector, helping start-ups develop business plans where she discovered the power of storytelling as a key factor in a company's ultimate success.

Chief Operating Officer

As S.E.V.P. and Chief Operating Officer for Delta Air Lines, I oversee a team of more than 70,000 employees responsible for safe, reliable operations across the globe. Prior to joining Delta in 2008, I served as CEO and President for Laidlaw Transit Services, as well as held executive roles at Northwest Airlines, United Airlines, United Technology and The Boeing Company. Accolades and Strengths: Turnaround background; Portfolio company management; Public, private and private equity company management; M&A background; Bachelor of Science, Mechanical Engineering from North Carolina State University; and Master of Business Administration from National University.

Cruise Automation Jobs

Cruise automation founders, cruise automation board members.

Board Member

What employees say about the executives at Cruise Automation

management keeps you in the dark. You have to read the newspaper to find out whats going on.

all perks were ended due to financial cutbacks.

Beautiful buildings in sf and a gorgeous view from the roof top. Booze fueled company parties renting out the oracle stadium.

The toxic work environment and horrorible weworkesque atmosphere. Very unpleasant and unprofessional petty people in all departments and management positions.

There was a cute arcade on the 5th floor and small gym and shower rooms in basement. The catering was good when it didn’t give everyone in the office food poisoning.

Nothing, he treated everyone like his personal assistant and constantly demanded special treatment and extra accommodations

Stop forcing subordinates to engage in alcohol and gossip. Treat the contract employees like human beings and not life stock.

Throughly prepared my resume and presented all my past deliverables and had multiple FTE references.

Multiple instances of human rights violation and a blatant example of exploitation in tech start ups.

It was pandering and patronizing for the most part but there was some effort.

Using the arcade or enjoying the view from the roof top during glee week

Great management, amazing teams, super fun technology!

Pay and the great people!

Everything, peers, managers, work very welcoming and awesome to work with nee technology

Can't think of anything yet

The pay, free pantry amd catered daily lunches

Cruise Automation Executives FAQs

Who is the ceo of cruise automation, who is the founder of cruise automation, related company executives.

• OTTO Executives
• PowerReviews Executives
• Waymo Executives
• Scoot Executives
• Intuit Executives
• Orrick Executives
• Morrison & Foerster Executives
• Twitter Executives
• Salesforce Executives
• Pacific Gas and Electric Executives
• Foss & Co Executives
• Square Executives
• Dodge & Cox Executives
• Lyft Executives
• First Republic Bank Executives

Working At Related Companies

• PowerReviews
• Morrison & Foerster
• Pacific Gas and Electric
• Foss & Co
• Dodge & Cox
• First Republic Bank

Related Company Jobs

• OTTO Jobs Near Me
• Waymo Jobs Near Me
• Intuit Jobs Near Me
• Salesforce Jobs Near Me
• Foss & Co Jobs Near Me
• Square Jobs Near Me
• Lyft Jobs Near Me
• Upwork Jobs Near Me
• Instacart Jobs Near Me
• Charles Schwab Jobs Near Me
• Airbnb Jobs Near Me
• Delta Dental Ins Jobs Near Me
• Dolby Laboratories Jobs Near Me
• Über Jobs Near Me
• Bechtel Corporation Jobs Near Me

Cruise Automation Highest Paying Jobs

• Staff Software Engineer jobs at Cruise Automation
• Operations Coordinator jobs at Cruise Automation
• San Francisco, CA
• Cruise Automation
• Cruise Automation Executives

Zippia gives an in-depth look into the details of Cruise Automation, including salaries, political affiliations, employee data, and more, in order to inform job seekers about Cruise Automation. The employee data is based on information from people who have self-reported their past or current employments at Cruise Automation. The data on this page is also based on data sources collected from public and open data sources on the Internet and other locations, as well as proprietary data we licensed from other companies. Sources of data may include, but are not limited to, the BLS, company filings, estimates based on those filings, H1B filings, and other public and private datasets. While we have made attempts to ensure that the information displayed are correct, Zippia is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of this information. None of the information on this page has been provided or approved by Cruise Automation. The data presented on this page does not represent the view of Cruise Automation and its employees or that of Zippia.

Cruise Automation may also be known as or be related to Cruise Automation, Inc., Cruise Automation, GM Cruise Holdings LLC and Cruise Automation Inc.

Daniel Kan ’09

Daniel Kan ’09

Co- founder and chief product officer, cruise automation.

Daniel Kan is co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Cruise Automation, a San Francisco based developer of autonomous vehicle technology. In March 2016, the 40 person startup was sold to General Motors but continues to operate as it’s own entity where Kan remains the company’s COO. Kan was number 7 on Fortune’s 40 under 40 list in 2016. Previously, he co-founded Exec, a company that provided fully vetted professional and trained cleaners, which was sold to Handy (Handybook at the time) in 2014. Kan graduated from Claremont McKenna College with a bachelors in Economics and Psychology and a minor in Leadership. He served as a member of the Kravis Fellows at the Kravis Leadership Institute and now serves as an Advisory Board Member. He currently resides in San Francisco.

GM’s Cruise Automation team grows to 100 employees

Romulus — General Motors Co.’s Cruise Automation autonomous vehicle software start-up now has 100 employees, up from 40 when GM acquired it, GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra said Thursday.

Barra, who was a keynote speaker at the World Mobility Leadership Forum held at Detroit Metro Airport, said people want to work on something that will be commercialized.

“That’s been one of the reasons that we’ve been able to grow this very specific type of resource of software artificial intelligence machine learning type of skill set and attract the talent because they see General Motors’ commitment,” Barra said.

GM announced in March that it would buy Cruise Automation, a San Francisco-based software company that it hopes will quicken its development of autonomous vehicle technology.

The automaker spent $581 million, including $300 million cash, on its purchase of Cruise Automation. The Cruise team also is testing fleets of self-driving Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles in San Francisco and Scottsdale, Arizona.

Cruise co-founder Kyle Vogt said earlier this month at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference that Cruise and GM have close to 30 self-driving vehicles operating in San Francisco and Scottsdale.

Cruise, founded in 2013, had 40 employees in March. It is operating independently within GM’s autonomous vehicle development team and workers remain based in San Francisco. Barra said GM tasked a specific few people to work directly with Cruise and to provide them resources they need but allows them to work fast. She said that allows Cruise to continue operating as a start-up.

Barra said she regularly talks to Cruise’s leadership team, including Vogt and Daniel Kan and tells them: “If we’re doing something that’s slowing you down, let me know.”

“We’re really driving that start up culture of speed into the entire corporation,” she said.

Barra was asked by K.C. Crain, director of corporate operations for Crain Communications Inc., about Ford Motor Co.’s recent statements that its mobility services could produce 20 percent profit margins. Barra would not provide a figure for GM’s plans but said it sees opportunity in the space if it executes well.

Following the Cruise acquisition, GM saw a more than 20 percent increase in traffic at its careers section at gm.com, Barra said.

Vogt, earlier this month at the TechCrunch conference, said it has been able to acquire engineers seeking both experience at a “fast-moving technology company coupled with a company that has the ability to manufacturer those vehicles in scale.”

But Barra said it’s not just Silicon Valley that is landing top talent.

“It’s people, though, that want to do really cool things, that want to make a difference and want to change the world,” she said Thursday. “If you’re a company that is demonstrating you’re moving quickly and you’re committed, we’re able to attract talent.”

[email protected]

(313) 222-2319

• Accomplishments
• US DOT Reports
• Research & Development
• Deployment & Technology Transfer
• Education & Workforce Development
• Equity Initiatives
• Executive Leadership
• Student Leadership
• University Partners
• Advisory Council
• Deployment Partners
• Carnegie Mellon University Affiliates
• The National Mobility Summit
• Smart Mobility Connection Seminar Series
• What’s Happening
• Carnegie Mellon University
• University of Pennsylvania
• The Ohio State University

GM completes Cruise Automation acquisition

Cruise leaders booted following initial safety probe into robotaxi incident

Nine Cruise managers and executives who worked in commercial operations, legal and policy department have left GM’s self-driving vehicle subsidiary following an initial internal analysis of the October 2 incident that left a pedestrian stuck under and then dragged by one of its robotaxis.

The departures were shared with employees via an internal Slack message. Cruise spokesperson Erik Moser confirmed the departures and shared a statement, but declined to comment on whether these employees were fired. TechCrunch was able to identify that David Estrada, who left autonomous vehicle startup Nuro in July to head up Cruise’s government affairs department, and COO Gil West were among those who were dismissed. West has since updated his LinkedIn profile indicating his employment ended.

“Today, following an initial analysis of the October 2 incident and Cruise’s response to it, nine individuals departed Cruise. These include key leaders from Legal, Government Affairs, and Commercial Operations, as well as Safety and Systems. As a company, we are committed to full transparency and are focused on rebuilding trust and operating with the highest standards when it comes to safety, integrity, and accountability and believe that new leadership is necessary to achieve these goals.”

The initial analysis was conducted by the Cruise board and is not part of the investigation led by firm Quinn Emmanuel, which has yet to be released.

The departures come three weeks after co-founder and CEO Kyle Vogt resigned and less than two months after the California Department of Motor Vehicles suspended Cruise’s permits  to operate self-driving vehicles on public roads after an  October 2 incident  that saw a pedestrian — who had been initially hit by a human-driven car and landed in the path of a Cruise robotaxi — run over and dragged 20 feet by the AV. A video, which TechCrunch viewed a day after the incident, showed the robotaxi braking aggressively and coming to a stop over the woman. The DMV’s order of suspension stated that Cruise withheld about seven seconds of video footage, which showed the robotaxi then attempting to pull over and subsequently dragging the woman 20 feet.

Morale at Cruise has been low since the October 2 incident, with employees pointing the finger at poor management that didn’t prioritize safety at the company. Without commercial permits to operate in San Francisco and an internal decision to  pause its driverless fleets  in other states, the company  laid off contract workers , further deepening the malaise.

Initial layoffs affected contract workers who had jobs cleaning, charging and maintaining the vehicles as well as answering customer support inquiries. Not all contingent workers, who are employed by a third party, were laid off. More layoffs affecting full-time employees are expected this month.

Subaru is retiring the Legacy to make way for new electric SUVs and crossovers

The Subaru Legacy will ride off into the sunset next year as the brand preps for a new era. Subaru is shifting gears as it focuses on new EVs, including SUVs and crossovers.

Subaru is retiring the Legacy with new EVs launching

Subaru launched its first fully electric vehicle, the Solterra , in the US in December 2022. The electric SUV was the first to feature Subaru’s Symmetrical AWD system for off-roading.

With 8.3″ of ground clearance and standard X-Mode, the Solterra is built to tackle any terrain. It also includes the brand’s most advanced multimedia yet with standard Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

The Solterra also offers more interior cargo space than the Hyundai IONIQ 5 (30 vs. 27.2 cu ft) and option bike rails to handle any adventure.

Subaru updated the Solterra in 2024 with faster charging (10% to 80% in 35 mins) and up to 227 miles range.

After selling 8,872 Solterras last year, sales have slowed this year with new competition. Subaru sold 1,147 Solterra models in the first three months of 2024, down 15% from last year.

Subaru has made several leadership changes over the past year or so, with a new CEO, Atsushi Osaki, appointed last April. Subaru America also hired Tadashi “Tady” Yoshida as CEO last year.

Under the new leadership, Subaru revealed an updated EV strategy , including a 50% EV sales target by 2030. That’s a big difference from the previous 40% hybrid electric and EV sales target by that time.

Top comment by Eric Godfrey

Sub. How did you mot lead on this? You core market is so into EVs, and we are stuck with cars that don’t do what you do. Now you’re a decade behind in tech. It’s easier to lift an Ioniq 5 than to make a solterra charge fast. Hopefully you guys catch up.

In the US, Subaru’s largest market, the brand aims to sell 400,000 EVs in 2028. Subaru plans to begin building EVs in-house in 2025 and US EV production as early as 2027. Currently, the Solterra is built on Toyota’s e-TNGA platform, the same underpinning the bZ4X.

Subaru will launch four fully electric SUVs by the end of 2026, including the Solterra. By 2029, Subaru will add four new EVs.

To make room, Subaru announced it will be retiring the Legacy from its lineup next year. Production will end in spring 2025. The 2025 model year will be the last.

To boost sales, Subaru is offering significant savings opportunities like 0% APR and leases starting as low as $329 per month. You can use our link to find deals on the Subaru Solterra at a dealer near you.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

Peter Johnson is covering the auto industry’s step-by-step transformation to electric vehicles. He is an experienced investor, financial writer, and EV enthusiast. His enthusiasm for electric vehicles, primarily Tesla, is a significant reason he pursued a career in investments. If he isn’t telling you about his latest 10K findings, you can find him enjoying the outdoors or exercising

Cruise operator Viking targets $11 billion valuation as IPO market stays hot

Viking Holdings, the European cruise line operator, is seeking to raise more than $1 billion in a public offering next week that could become the second-biggest IPO of 2024.

Viking is scheduled to price on April 30 and trade the next day, a person familiar with the deal told Fortune . The Pembroke, Bermuda–based company plans to sell 44 million shares at $21 to $25 each, according to a regulatory filing dated April 22. Viking will be offering 11 million shares with the remainder coming from shareholders, according to a statement . BofA Securities and JPMorgan are lead underwriters on the deal, which could end up valuing Viking—slated to trade under VIK on the New York Stock Exchange—at almost $11 billion.

Torstein Hagen, Viking’s chairman and CEO, founded the company in 1997. It has a fleet of 92 vessels that travel to all seven continents, including special expeditions to Antarctica and to the Arctic North.

“Looking toward the future, we believe there are a number of opportunities for growing Viking,” Hagen wrote in a letter accompanying the filing. “We have 24 new ships on order, with options for 12 more. We have also started to enter new markets, such as China and elsewhere in Asia, where we see significant growth potential over the long term.”

Revenue for Viking rose 48% to $4.7 billion in 2023. The company was profitable in 2022 but posted $1.86 billion in losses last year, and it’s highly leveraged, reporting $5.4 billion in total debt as of Dec. 31.

“We have substantial indebtedness and we may not be able to generate sufficient cash to service all of our indebtedness or to obtain additional financing if necessary,” Viking said in the regulatory filing.

The company is also backed by private equity. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and TPG likely will each have nearly 5% of the firm’s voting power after the IPO.

The IPO market is bouncing back. Last week, Ibotta rose 17% during its first day of trading after pricing at $88. Rubrik, a Microsoft-backed cloud data security provider, is scheduled to list shares on Thursday and could raise as much as $713 million . Also on Thursday, Marex Group, a U.K.-based financial services platform, is expected to trade, according to IPOScoop.com.

The year’s biggest IPO still belongs to Amer Sport, the maker of Wilson tennis racquets, which raised $1.37 billion in February, according to data from Dealogic. Viking, if it prices at the top of its range, could raise as much as $1.1 billion.

Latest in Finance

• 0 minutes ago

‘We expect Powell to make a hawkish pivot’—Fed meeting to headline busy week for global markets

Police bust ‘very sophisticated’ burglary ring that used Wi-Fi jammers to steal $4 million in jewels

It’s time to talk about the ‘dirty word’ on Wall Street as ‘whiffs of stagflation’ intrude on markets, chief strategist says

Boeing’s CEO search hits a roadblock—now an ‘insider/outsider’ who runs the planemaker’s biggest supplier is on the short list and near the top

Natural gas producers in Texas are paying people to take their supply as prices sink deeper into negative territory

UAW and Daimler Truck reach last-minute deal to hike pay by more than 25%, avoiding potential strike of over 7,000 workers

Most popular.

‘Americans just work harder’ than Europeans, says CEO of Norway’s $1.6 trillion oil fund, because they have a higher ‘general level of ambition’

Amazon should be forced to disclose how Jeff Bezos and others were instructed to use the Signal disappearing-message app, FTC says

Jamie Dimon says America needs to ‘take a deep breath’ before facing off with China, because the U.S. is actually in a ‘very good position’ to negotiate

The meteoric rise and stunning fall of Prime, Logan Paul’s energy drink that was once resold for almost $1,500 a can: ‘A brand cannot live on hype alone’

Tesla’s Elon Musk speeds past Mark Zuckerberg on the billionaires list after Meta stock plummets on its cash-sucking AI plans

Troubled Philadelphia-based bank implodes in first failure of the year