On Tuesday, General Motors appointed Marc Whitten, a seasoned technology executive from the video game industry, to lead its troubled robotaxi service, Cruise. This decision follows a serious incident last October when a Cruise robotaxi was involved in a collision in San Francisco, resulting in the suspension of its California license.
Whitten, known for his work with the Xbox video game console, takes the helm of Cruise amid regulatory scrutiny and reduced investment by GM.
The company initially aimed for Cruise to achieve $1 billion in annual revenue by 2025 but has since downscaled its ambitions, leading to layoffs of 900 employees. Former CEO Kyle Vogt resigned shortly after the incident that left a pedestrian injured.
An electric car for Cruise (Michael West/Getty Images)
The leadership change at Cruise coincided with Waymo’s announcement that its driverless vehicles are now available to pick up passengers in San Francisco without prior selection, expanding beyond a waiting list of 300,000 people. Waymo, which has operated its robo-taxi service in Phoenix for years without major incidents, recently conducted a software update after a minor collision involving one of its vehicles in Phoenix.
