General Motors’ GM autonomous driving unit Cruise has appointed Marc Whitten as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) as it seeks to resume its robotaxi operations after a suspension that lasted several months.
What Happened: Cruise said on Tuesday that Whitten, a founding engineer at Xbox, has been appointed CEO, effective June 16. He was previously also employed at Amazon and Sonos.
Until June 16, Cruise was run by co-presidents Mo Elshenawy and Craig Glidden who took over ever since Cruise co-founder Kyle Vogt left his CEO position last year.
Elshenawy will continue as President and Chief Technology Officer, while Glidden will be President and Chief Administrative Officer, Cruise said. GM said in a separate statement that Glidden has stepped down from his position as its chief legal and public policy officer but will serve as executive vice president and strategic advisor.
Additionally, Cruise has appointed Nick Mulholland as its new Chief Communications & Marketing Officer. Mulholland previously led the global communications team at California-based EV company Rivian.
Why It Matters: GM's autonomous driving unit Cruise suspended operations in the U.S. late last year following the involvement of one of its robotaxis in an accident in San Francisco. The company resumed manual driving in the city of Phoenix to gather road information in April and in Dallas, Texas earlier this month.
Cruise accrued expenses of $400 million in the first quarter as compared to the $800 million in the quarter before. The company said in April that it expects the unit's full-year expenses to be around $1.7 billion.
Earlier this month, GM's CFO Paul Jacobson said at Deutsche Bank's Global Auto Industry Conference in New York City that the company is investing $850 million to cover operating costs at Cruise. The company is also reportedly scouting for external financing from investors to beef up the unit's financial position.
Cruise’s efforts at restarting its robotaxi operations come as EV giant Tesla Inc. is also gearing up to unveil its dedicated robotaxi offering on Aug. 8. Future Fund's Gary Black, a Tesla investor, said on Tuesday that the company must offer autonomous rides at the onset itself, unlike Cruise which is employing drivers before turning to autonomous operations.
"Those thinking $TSLA can just offer a supervised (with driver) ride-hailing service to compete with Uber and Lyft until unsupervised ride-hailing becomes available are day-dreaming,” Black wrote on X.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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