GM Stock Climbs As Former Cruise Team Reportedly Returns To Build Hands-Free Consumer Vehicles

• GM has rehired its former employees from firms including Nvidia, Uber, and Zoox, The Information reported.
• Cruise was a major robotaxi player in Waymo's leagues until October 2023, when a Cruise robotaxi got involved in an accident in San Francisco. 
• The rehiring reflects GM’s decision to develop fully autonomous vehicles for consumers’ personal use, GM’s vice president of autonomous vehicles, Rashed Haq, told The Information.

Shares of General Motors (GM) jumped 2% on Thursday following reports that it has rehired more than 100 former employees from its now-defunct Cruise autonomous-vehicle subsidiary as it advances the development of “eyes-off” self-driving technology aimed at personally owned vehicles rather than robotaxis.

The rehiring comes roughly eighteen months after GM effectively shut down Cruise in December 2024, when the company stopped funding the unit’s robotaxi ambitions, folded its technology and some of its staff into GM’s broader technical teams, and pivoted resources toward enhancing its existing Super Cruise advanced driver-assistance system.

GM has rehired its former employees from firms including Nvidia, Uber, and Zoox, The Information reported. It reflects GM’s decision to develop fully autonomous vehicles for consumers’ personal use, GM’s vice president of autonomous vehicles, Rashed Haq, told The Information, adding that the company is not resuming its driverless ride-hailing business under Cruise.

In August, Bloomberg had reported on GM’s efforts to bring back former Cruise employees.

Cruise’s Downfall

Cruise was a major robotaxi player in Waymo's leagues until October 2023, when a Cruise robotaxi got involved in an accident in San Francisco, giving rise to heightened regulatory scrutiny, the exit of high-profile executives, including co-founder Kyle Vogt, and the suspension of robotaxi services.

A few months later, GM said it was abandoning its plans to build the pedal-less Origin autonomous vehicle and said it would instead use its next-generation Chevrolet Bolt for autonomous driving purposes. Still, by December 2024, the company announced Cruise’s closure.

The robotaxi development work needs considerable time and resources to scale, GM reasoned, while adding that the market is getting increasingly competitive.

The company had said it would instead work on the progress of Super Cruise, its hands-off, eyes-on driving feature, deployed in passenger vehicles, and let go of about 1000 employees.

Plans Ahead

GM’s reconstituted group will debut an electric Cadillac in 2028 that lets drivers go eyes-off and hands-free on highways, with more models to follow, The Information said. Later versions will add eyes-off autonomy in cities, eventually eliminating the need for anyone to sit in the driver’s seat. “Everybody in the car will be a passenger,” Haq reportedly said. “Nobody will need to be in charge of any of the driving tasks—you’ll even be able to send it on mobility errands.”

The plan is similar to Ford’s BlueCruise, a system that allows for hands-free driving on certain highways in select Ford and Lincoln vehicles.

Rising Competition In Vehicle Autonomy

Competition in the vehicle autonomy space is intensifying as companies race to commercialize Level 4 and higher self-driving technology in a market projected by Fortune Business Insights to surge from $4.4 trillion in 2026 to tens of trillions by the mid-2030s. Alphabet Inc’s Waymo leads the U.S. with expanding driverless robotaxis and a recent $16 billion funding round for growth, while close challengers include Amazon’s Zoox and EV maker Tesla, which is pushing broader robotaxi deployment using its vast data and vision-only Full Self-Driving software.

How Did GM Retail Traders React?

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around GM rose from ‘bearish’ to ‘neutral’ territory over the past 24 hours, while message volume remained at ‘high’ levels.

A Stocktwits user criticized GM’s valuation and opined that the market is ignoring GM’s stalled EV transition, weak consumer backdrop, and rising fuel costs.

GM stock has edged up 3% this year, compared to rival Ford Motor Co’s 15% rally. 

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