(Reuters) – General Motors’ self-driving cab service Cruise has come under heat from regulatory bodies over the past few months after one of its driverless cabs was not able to stop in time from hitting a pedestrian.
Here is a rundown on key events that led to its downfall:
Date Development
March 11, Cruise applies for permits needed to start
2021 charging for rides and delivery using autonomous
vehicles in San Francisco
Sep 30, Cruise receives autonomous vehicle permits to
2021 offer rides to passengers in California
Dec 16, Dan Ammann, CEO of Cruise, leaves the company
2021
Feb 28, California Public Utilities Commission issues
2022 permits to Cruise’s self-driving units to allow
for passenger service in autonomous vehicles with
safety drivers present
Jul 26, GM reports losing nearly $5 billion trying to
2022 build a robotaxi business with Cruise since 2018
Aug 3, GM announces that owners of certain vehicles
2022 equipped with its Super Cruise assisted driving
system will now be able to use it on 400,000
miles of North American roads
Sep 1, Cruise recalls and updates software in 80
2022 self-driving vehicles after a June crash in San
Francisco left two people injured
Sep 12, Cruise plans to expand its driverless ride
2022 service to include Phoenix, Arizona and Austin,
Texas
Dec 16, U.S. auto safety regulators open a formal safety
2022 probe into the autonomous driving system in
vehicles produced by Cruise
March 16, GM CEO Mary Barra meets two key senators as the
2023 Detroit automaker pushes for legislation to speed
deployment of self-driving vehicles on U.S. roads
July 12, U.S. regulators to decide on GM request to deploy
2023 up to 2,500 Cruise vehicles annually
Aug 9, A top GM executive says Cruise has “largely
2023 solved all the technology challenges”
Oct 17, U.S. auto safety regulators open a probe into
2023 whether Cruise is taking sufficient precautions
with its autonomous robotaxis to safeguard
pedestrians
Oct 24, California orders Cruise to remove its driverless
2023 cars from state roads, calling the vehicles a
risk to the public and saying the company
“misrepresented” the safety of the technology
Oct 26, Cruise says it will suspend all operations
2023 nationwide
Nov 3, Board of GM’s Cruise reviews regulatory response,
2023 technology
Nov 6, GM says it plans to temporarily halt production
2023 of its fully autonomous Cruise Origin van
Nov 8, Cruise recalls 950 driverless cars from the roads
2023 across the U.S following crash involving one of
its robotaxis and says it will likely issue more
recalls
Nov 14, Cruise says it will pause all supervised and
2023 manual car trips in the U.S. and expand the scope
of its investigations
Nov 16, Cruise suspends program under which GM buys back
2023 employees’ shares
Nov 19, Kyle Vogt resigns as CEO
2023
Nov 20, Co-founder and chief product officer Daniel Kan
2023 resigns
Nov 22, Cruise says it is planning to re-launch in one
2023 unspecified city before expanding to others
Dec 4, A California agency says Cruise could face $1.5
2023 million in fines and sanctions over failure to
disclose details of an accident in the year
Dec 13, Cruise dismisses nine key people amid ongoing
2023 safety investigation
Dec 14, Cruise says it will slash 24% of its workforce as
2023 it works to restructure operations
(Reporting by Nathan Gomes in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)