GM To Spend $2B On Self-Driving Startup Cruise This Year, Just A Permit Away From Charging Customers

General Motors Co GM CFO Paul Jacobson said on Tuesday the company will spend about $2 billion on its self-driving taxi fleet Cruise this year.

What Happened: The legacy automaker said it is just a permit away from being able to begin charging for rides.

“Inclusive of the incremental stock compensation expenses, we expect full-year 2022 expenses at Cruise to be approximately $2 billion,” Jacobson told analysts on a post-earnings call.

CEO Mary Barra said the automaker aims to have an installed capacity to build one million EVs in North America by 2025, which will help draw about $50 billion in annual revenue.

Cruise competes with Alphabet Inc’s GOOG GOOGL self-driving unit Waymo. Tesla Inc TSLA CEO earlier this month said its dedicated Robotaxi will achieve volume production in 2024. 

See Also: Tesla's Robotaxi To Reach Volume Production In 2024, Elon Musk Sees Unit As A Massive Growth Driver

Monetizing Cruise: Cruise is yet to deliver its first profit. Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt, however, said it is close to being able to charge for rides.

“We're one permit away from being able to charge for rides, which would be the beginning of our generation of significant revenue with the only AV company in California to have applied for that permit,” Vogt said.

“We are the only AV company carrying members of the public in the urban market.”

See Also: San Francisco Cops Pulled Over A Driverless GM Cruise — What Happened Next Left Onlookers In Splits

GM’s Cruise has been offering light-duty driverless rides to passengers at night in some parts of San Francisco between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. local time, at a maximum speed limit of 30 miles per hour.

Price Action: GM stock closed 4.5% lower at $38 a share on Tuesday.

Photo courtesy: Cruise