Kyle Vogt, the CEO of GM-owned Cruise Automation, has resigned. Vogt was a key player in the launch of Cruise’s self-driving taxi projects. GM said Vogt is leaving to pursue other entrepreneurial opportunities.
Cruise will now be led by an executive team including President Dan Amman and Chief Financial Officer Walt Schaefer. The company also announced that it is developing a new organizational structure with key leadership in product engineering, operations, and product and customer experience, meant to create a unified and streamlined development process across its self-driving taxicab services.
Vogt came to GM from Silicon Valley in 2016 and was initially tapped to lead autonomous vehicle development, and was later promoted to CEO of Cruise. In 2018, GM bought Cruise for $1 billion and made Vogt its main ambassador for the autonomous-driving sector. Vogt was behind the launch of Cruise Anywhere, which lets users book rides in San Francisco.
GM said it is on track to launch a commercial self-driving taxi service with Cruise by the end of 2019. The company also said that the core development team that Vogt put in place at Cruise remains with the company and that this group will continue to be focal point of Cruise going forward.
