General Motors (GM) has announced it will be scrapping plans to build an autonomous vehicle model, called “Origin”, produced by the carmaker’s subsidiary Cruise.
The automaker’s CEO, Mary Barra, said in a letter to shareholder’s Cruise will be “focusing their next autonomous vehicle on the next-generation Chevrolet Bolt, instead of the Origin,” due to regulatory uncertainty.
In addition, the chief executive noted the costs per-unit will be much lower for the battery-run Chevrolet Bolt, helping their autonomous subsidiary, Cruise, to “optimise its resources”.
In October, the robotaxi subsidiary came under fire after a pedestrian was hit by one of their vehicles. This triggered the California Department of Motor Vehicles to suspend all of Cruise’s self-driving vehicle operations.
Shortly after, the GM-owned company to temporarily pause production of the Origin model.
Barra reassured in her letter to shareholders that Cruise vehicles have since returned to roads in Houston, Phoenix and Dallas, after briefly halting operations.
