Today is a sad day for Cruise, the self-driving car company owned by General Motors. Kyle Vogt, the CEO of Cruise, has resigned from his position and will no longer be involved in the management of the company.
Vogt’s journey with GM began in 2016, when Cruise was spun off from a subsidiary of GM and given to an independent entity owned primarily by SoftBank. VW later bought a majority stake in the company in 2020. Prior to working with Cruise, Vogt had already established himself in the tech industry, having co-founded the streaming platform Twitch.
Prior to Vogt’s departure, Cruise achieved many significant milestones, such as privileged access to California’s roads, a self-service platform for training autonomous vehicles and the expansion into additional markets including the United Kingdom. Vogt’s leadership also helped Cruise become the first company to receive permission to begin testing a driverless taxi service.
Cruise has been successful under Vogt’s guidance and has become a leader in the autonomous vehicle space. Under his leadership, Cruise was also able to secure an additional $2 billion investment from Microsoft.
At this time, however, it is not clear what Vogt’s next steps will be. He left no comment on his departure from Cruise, but stated that he’s “excited to explore new opportunities” in the near future.
GM and Cruise have not yet announced a permanent successor for Vogt. It is likely they will appoint an interim CEO until they find someone who is a good fit for the position.
Vogt’s departure from GM is a big loss for the company, and the industry in general. The Cruise team was growing rapidly under his leadership, and it will have to adapt to the change. In the meantime, Cruise will remain as one of the most promising companies in the autonomous vehicle space.