GM Drops Plans for Cruise Robotaxi, Promises Self-Driving Chevrolet Bolt Instead

General Motors made some waves in 2020 when it announced plans for a radical new robotaxi called the Origin. The company’s Cruise self-driving subsidiary has been quiet since the initial hype died down, but CEO Mary Barra gave investors an update this week: GM has decided to refocus Cruise and drop the Origin concept altogether. Instead, GM proposes producing self-driving taxis based on the next-generation Chevrolet Bolt.

Cruise made waves largely because of its unique design. The boxy vehicle would have offered ample “campfire” seating for passengers thanks to the angular shape and the complete lack of a driver seat. When it announced the project, GM believed there could be tens of thousands of Origin vehicles navigating the roads, carrying passengers without incident to their final destinations. GM has taken a $583 million financial charge on the project for the second quarter of the year. Its Cruise subsidiary has an operating loss of $1.14 billion during the same period.

The design of the Origin seemed dependent on a rapid improvement in self-driving technology. A few years ago, that seemed like a reasonable bet to make. However, autonomous vehicles have been slow to get past the supervised driving stage. Tesla’s camera-only approach to self-driving has been only modestly successful as owners continue reporting serious issues with Autopilot and Full Self-Driving. Even Google’s Waymo, which uses a powerful sensor platform, has been investigated for reckless driving behavior. Through it all, the people working on these projects are beginning to ask if it’s even possible to have cars driving themselves safely with current technology.

Credit: GM

Shifting to the Bolt makes some sense in this context. Putting that car into production would mean betting on the future of autonomous vehicles in a very tangible way. With regulators still exploring the myriad issues with self-driving cars, it’s unlikely GM could get the okay to have tens of thousands of them on the roads.

“This shift creates a more cost-effective and scalable option for pursuing an autonomous future faster, while avoiding the uncertain path to regulatory compliance in the U.S. that could impede scaling of the Origin,” GM told TechCrunch. “The Origin does not include a steering wheel and brake pedals and uses campfire seating, a design that is currently not permitted.”

GM will make a next-generation Bolt whether it pursues self-driving technology in earnest or not. So, it makes sense to have Cruise focus on building autonomy on top of that. The company’s statement does leave the door open to reviving the Origin in the future, though. The future of Cruise could well hinge on Tesla’s robotaxi moves. After announcing the unveiling for this summer, Tesla had to delay the robotaxi event to October. It’s unclear how the company plans to make its taxi safe given the problems we’ve seen with Tesla’s Full Self-Driving tech.