General Motors
Compare General Motors…General Motors Company designs, builds, and sells trucks, crossovers, cars, and automobile parts and accessories worldwide.
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General MotorsGeneral Motors Company designs, builds, and sells trucks, crossovers, cars, and automobile parts and accessories worldwide.
| Date / Event | Capital / Headcount | Detail / Status |
|---|---|---|
| 2013. Cruise Automation founded | Seed stage | Kyle Vogt + Daniel Kan; aftermarket highway autonomy kit for Audi A4/S4 |
| 2016-03. GM acquires Cruise | ~$581M base, ~$1B all-in | First major OEM acquisition of an AV startup; Cruise stays in SF as autonomous unit of GM |
| 2018-05. SoftBank Vision Fund invests | $2.25B (SVF), $1.1B (GM follow-on) | SVF takes 19.6% stake at ~$11.5B valuation |
| 2018-10. Honda invests | $2.75B over 12 yrs | Honda joins Cruise Origin development; 5.7% stake |
| 2020-01. Cruise Origin reveal | Concept vehicle | Purpose-built driverless shuttle (no steering wheel, no pedals); built on GM Ultium platform |
| 2021-01. Microsoft + Walmart + GM round | $2B at $30B valuation | Microsoft becomes preferred cloud provider; Walmart pilots autonomous delivery |
| 2022-02. Driverless rides launch in San Francisco | No safety driver | First major US robotaxi launch with no human supervision; nighttime hours only initially |
| 2023-08-10. CPUC expands SF service to 24/7 paid rides | ~400-vehicle fleet | Cruise + Waymo cleared for unrestricted paid driverless service in SF |
| 2023-10-02. Pedestrian-drag incident in SF | 1 pedestrian, 20 ft drag | Cruise vehicle hits and drags a pedestrian struck by an adjacent human-driven car; Cruise initial reports omitted the drag |
| 2023-10-24. California DMV suspends permits | Fleet idled nationwide | DMV cites unreasonable risk to public safety; Cruise voluntarily pauses all driverless operations |
| 2023-11-19. CEO Kyle Vogt resigns | +9 senior exits | President Dan Kan resigns same week; cofounder + executive team exodus |
| 2023-12-14. 24% workforce cut | ~900 layoffs | Cuts after voluntary buyouts; reduces commercial + government-affairs functions; engineering core retained |
| 2024-Q1. GM records $0.6B Cruise restructuring charge | $600M+ Q4 2023 charge | Reduced operating budget by ~50%; halt of robotaxi expansion; back to supervised testing only |
| 2024-04. Supervised testing resumes in Phoenix | Safety driver required | No driverless operations; only data collection + mapping; very limited deployment |
| 2024-12-10. GM announces Cruise wind-down | Robotaxi program halted | GM stops Cruise robotaxi development entirely; engineering team folded into GM ADAS to focus on personal-vehicle autonomy |
| 2025-Q1. Cruise integration into GM completed | Cumulative GM spend $10B+ | Remaining engineers move to GM's Super Cruise / hands-free highway team; Cruise brand retired |
2021-Q2-2026-Q1
2009-2025
$GM· Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC, Buick
Rapidly scaling EV production on its Ultium platform across Chevrolet Equinox EV, Blazer EV, Cadillac Lyriq, and GMC Hummer EV. America's largest automaker by volume with $170B+ revenue and ~110K EV deliveries in 2024, accelerating sharply in H2. Targeting 1M annual EV units in North America by mid-decade with the affordable Equinox EV as its volume play.
Key Milestones
General Motors founded in Flint, Michigan by William Durant via consolidation of Buick, Oldsmobile, and Cadillac: by 1931 becomes the world's largest automaker, a position it holds through 2008.
EV1 launches in California and Arizona via lease only: the first mass-produced modern EV from a major automaker. ~1,100 units placed; program controversially ended in 2003 with vehicles crushed.
Chevrolet Volt launches as a plug-in hybrid: the first major OEM extended-range EV, foreshadowing later EREV trend in China; a generation ahead of Toyota Prius Prime and BMW i3 REx.
Chevrolet Bolt EV begins delivery: the first U.S.-built mass-market 200+ mile BEV from a Detroit automaker, beating Tesla Model 3 to market by ~9 months and ushering in the affordable-long-range EV era.
Reveals Ultium battery and BEV3 platform: GM commits 30 EVs by 2025 across Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, and Buick; the unveiling marks GM's most ambitious electrification announcement to date.
Commits to all-electric light-duty fleet by 2035: the most aggressive electrification pledge from a Detroit Three OEM; Mary Barra positions GM as 'leading EV transition not just compliance.'
Begins delivery of GMC Hummer EV pickup: the first vehicle on GM's Ultium platform; 1,000 hp, 9,063 lb curb weight, and CrabWalk demonstrate Ultium's flexibility but at six-figure price points.
Cadillac Lyriq launches as Cadillac's first dedicated EV on Ultium: becomes GM's premium EV bellwether and proves Ultium can deliver attractive mass-market styling.
Chevrolet Blazer EV stop-sale issued months after launch over critical software defects: denting GM's EV reputation and exposing weakness in Ultium's first-year software stack.
Chevrolet Equinox EV production begins: GM's most affordable Ultium model at sub-$35K starting price; positioned as GM's volume Ultium contender and EV-tax-credit-eligible from launch.
Returns to selling new Bolt EV reservation: commits to second-generation Bolt on Ultium with LFP cells for cost reduction; admits that retiring the original Bolt EV in 2023 was a strategic mistake.
Delays next-generation electric trucks indefinitely amid soft U.S. EV demand and tax-credit uncertainty: GMC Sierra EV ramp slows; Chevrolet Silverado EV production cut as fleet demand fizzles.
GM books $1.7B charge for U.S. EV-strategy reset: Cruise robotaxi unit shut down, EV-cell production scaled back, and commercial Bright Drop van delayed; the broadest EV-strategy retreat at a Big Three OEM.
$GM· Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC, Buick
GM's autonomous driving subsidiary that paused public robotaxi operations after a 2023 pedestrian incident in San Francisco. Previously operated with a fleet of autonomous Origin vehicles and received $10B+ in cumulative GM investment. Restructuring to refocus on supervised autonomy and advanced ADAS features for production GM vehicles.
Software / AI
Vehicle Integration
Key Milestones
Cruise Automation founded in San Francisco by Kyle Vogt (Twitch co-founder, MIT) and Dan Kan; backed by Y Combinator. Original product was a $10K aftermarket retrofit kit for Audi A4/S4 to enable highway autopilot: pivoted to full-stack robotaxi after early prototypes.
GM acquired Cruise for $581M cash + GM stock (initial 80% stake; $1B+ total enterprise value): fastest GM tech acquisition ever. Cruise stayed an independent SF-based subsidiary; Vogt continued as CEO/CTO.
SoftBank Vision Fund invested $2.25B (initial $900M, $1.35B at commercial launch): valued Cruise at $11.5B post-money. First major external Cruise investor; SoftBank later wrote down most of this stake.
Honda invested $2.75B for 5.7% stake: joint development of purpose-built robotaxi (would become the Cruise Origin). Cruise valuation reached $14.6B; Origin unveiled Jan 2020.
Origin purpose-built driverless shuttle unveiled in San Francisco: no steering wheel, no pedals, bidirectional. Designed jointly with Honda for ride-share and goods delivery. Production was repeatedly delayed; never launched commercially.
California DMV granted fully driverless testing permit in San Francisco: second permit nationwide after Waymo. Allowed Cruise to remove safety drivers within designated streets in SF's Sunset / Richmond districts.
First public driverless taxi ride in San Francisco Nov 2021: CEO Kyle Vogt rode with no safety driver on a closed loop in Sunset District. Public-facing fully-driverless beta opened to selected SF residents Feb 2022.
First fared (paid) driverless robotaxi rides in San Francisco: beat Waymo to commercial L4 in a major US city by 14 months. Initial geofence 30 sq mi in nighttime hours only.
California Driverless Deployment permit granted: first AV company licensed to charge fares in a major US city. Cruise opened paid waitlist immediately; achieved revenue-generating L4 ahead of Waymo.
Driverless commercial ride-hailing launched in San Francisco at scale: open to general public via Cruise app. Peak fleet ~300 Bolt EVs operating overnight, expanded to daytime June 2023 (which led to chaos).
Cruise hits and drags pedestrian Jennifer in San Francisco Oct 2 2023: pedestrian thrown by hit-and-run driver into Cruise vehicle's path; Cruise dragged her ~20 feet. California DMV suspended Cruise's deployment permit Oct 24, halting all paid robotaxi service. Foundation of GM's later $10B+ writedown.
CEO Kyle Vogt resigns Nov 19 2023 amid permit revocation; Mo Elshenawy and Craig Glidden named co-presidents. Cruise paused operations nationwide. Former NHTSA exec hired to lead safety review.
Resumed supervised manual mapping in Phoenix and Houston after 6-month pause: humans driving Cruise vehicles to refresh HD maps. First sign of operational restart post-suspension.
GM announced Dec 10 2024 wind-down of Cruise robotaxi business: ~$10B written off cumulatively across investments. CEO Mary Barra cited 'increasingly difficult AV market' and 'capital intensity'.
Cruise merger into GM completed; team folded into Super Cruise development: Cruise robotaxi operation officially ended. ~50% of staff laid off; remainder rolled into GM ADAS product team in Detroit/SF.
GM restarted personal-vehicle driverless development under Advanced Driver Assist program. Sterling Anderson (ex-Aurora, ex-Tesla Autopilot) hired June 2025 to lead. Refocused on supervised L2+/L3 for retail vehicles vs robotaxi.
