GM is pulling the plug on its robotaxi efforts

A General Motors Cruise self-driving car, often referred to as a robotaxi, drives in front of the Ferry Building on the Embarcedero, San Francisco in 2023. (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

NEW YORK — General Motors is pulling the plug on its efforts to develop a fleet of driverless taxis and will focus on driver-assistance features that require a driver to be ready to take control of the car, the company said Tuesday.

GM said it needs to drop robotaxi efforts “given the considerable time and resources that would be needed to scale the business, along with an increasingly competitive robotaxi market.”

It said it will instead focus on driver assistance features rather than fully automous vehicles; developing a fleet of robotaxis would have required more than US$10 billion, the company added.

GM faces competition in the robotaxi market from Google’s Waymo unit in partnership with Uber, let alone ride-hailing and taxi services that use human drivers. And earlier this fall, Tesla announced plans for new driverless vehicles without steering wheels, brakes or accelerators, as well as for a robotaxi service that would allow Tesla owners to rent out their cars to the service when they don’t need it for their own use.

But GM has decided that’s no longer a sector in which it makes sense to compete. GM CEO Mary Barra told investors Tuesday that the company decided the robotaxi service was not part of GM’s core business, and that shifting its self-driving technology efforts to driver assist features available on privately-owned cars will help with the products it offers to car buyers.

“GM is committed to delivering the best driving experiences to our customers in a disciplined and capital efficient manner,” said Barra in a statement.

“We’re fully committed to autonomous driving and excited to bring GM customers its benefits – things like enhanced safety, improved traffic flow, increased accessibility, and reduced driver stress,” said Dave Richardson, senior vice president of software and services engineering at GM.