--- title: "Cruise Pauses All Driverless Operations, Saying It’s Taking a “Hard Look Inwards”" description: "Cruise made the decision following a federal investigation into the company and the loss of its permit to operate its service in California." date: "2023-10-27" modified: "2023-10-27" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/cruise-pauses-driverless-operation" categories: - "Advanced Transport" tags: - "Autonomous vehicles" - "cruise" - "robotaxis" - "the digest" --- # Cruise Pauses All Driverless Operations, Saying It’s Taking a “Hard Look Inwards” ![Cruise made the decision following a federal investigation into the company and the loss of its permit to operate its service in California.]() *\Image: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images\* ## Put On Hold Cruise, General Motors' autonomous vehicle division, [announced]() on Thursday that it's "proactively" pausing driverless operations of its entire fleet across the United States, just days after California [yanked its robotaxi permit]() due to safety concerns. "The most important thing for us right now is to take steps to rebuild public trust," Cruise said in a [statement]() on X, formerly Twitter. "Part of this involves taking a hard look inwards and at how we do work at Cruise, even if it means doing things that are uncomfortable or difficult." It's a huge setback. With a dramatic decision like this, though, Cruise is looking like a company in crisis, as it struggles to get on the good side of regulators, regularly becomes [involved]() [in]() [traffic]() [blunders](), and continues to [bleed billions of dollars](). And this is bigger than just GM. As a standard bearer of self-driving tech among the Big Three automakers, Cruise's hamstrung efforts show that the future of autonomous cars, let alone robotaxis, is anything but certain. ## Center of Attention Last week, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) [announced]() it was opening an investigation into Cruise, after receiving reports of its robotaxis endangering and injuring pedestrians. One high-profile incident involved a [woman becoming trapped under a Cruise vehicle]() after being struck by a human driver in a hit-and-run. Some of the facts are disputed, but it appears the pedestrian was flung into the path of the robotaxi, which ran her over after it was unable — or failed to — brake or swerve in time. This landed Cruise in hot water with the California Department of Motor Vehicles. A week after the NHTSA investigation was announced, the state regulator [suspended the company's robotaxi permit](), citing that the "vehicles are not safe for the public's operation." The DMV also claimed Cruise withheld critical footage related to the hit-and-run incident. For its part, Cruise maintains that its pause "isn't related to any new on-road incidents," — a bizarre claim, given the number of well-documented cases. "We think it's the right thing to do during a period when we need to be extra vigilant when it comes to risk, relentlessly focused on safety, and taking steps to rebuild public trust," it said in its statement. ## Money Pit Cruise has been an extremely costly venture for GM. On Tuesday, the [automaker said it lost]() $1.9 billion on Cruise between January and September of this year alone. A federal investigation and an emergency pause aren't likely to help the situation. Before the pause, its robotaxis operated in only a handful of cities, including San Francisco, Phoenix, Austin, and Miami. Plans were in the works [to expand to more locations]() like Seattle and Washington DC. For now, Cruise says it will continue to offer supervised autonomous vehicle services. How long the pause will last, however, remains to be seen. **More on advanced transport:** *[Tesla Admits the DOJ Is Investigating Its Vehicles' Driving Range]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()