The Cruise Origin was supposed to be the future—or so it seemed four years ago.
That’s when Cruise cofounder Kyle Vogt introduced the futuristic-looking vehicle: No steering wheels. No pedals. Wireless internet. “Campfire” seating for six passengers. Sliding doors.
“Well that’s really something isn’t it?” Vogt said as he slid out of the Origin on stage.
But all of that changed yesterday morning when GM announced it was delaying production of the Cruise Origin indefinitely and instead using the familiar Chevy Bolt as the main platform for its self-driving efforts.
While the Origin’s radically different design from traditional automobiles may have always made it a long shot, GM had appeared committed to the vision. Prior to last October, Cruise Origins were being tested at GM’s headquarters in Detroit, in Austin, and at one of Cruise’s test tracks outside San Francisco. A handful of them had just been delivered to Phoenix.
So what happened?
To hear GM CEO and Cruise Chair Mary Barra, the demise of the Origin comes down to costs and regulation. GM’s “per unit-costs will be much lower” by focusing on Bolts instead of Origin vehicles, Barra wrote in a quarterly letter to shareholders Tuesday. Barra discussed the regulatory challenges during the quarterly earnings call, explaining the company’s view that deploying the Origin was going to require “legislative change.”
“As we looked at this, we thought it was better to get rid of that risk,” Barra said.
All robo-taxi companies have been waiting on the green light from regulators for the approvals needed to add these futuristic pedal-less cars into their commercial fleets. While the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration adjusted its rules so that carmakers could manufacture and deploy cars without pedals or steering, state DMVs still have many restrictions set in place when it comes to people riding in them.
The other big change for GM, of course, is the October accident involving one of Cruise’s self-driving Chevy Bolts in San Francisco (in which a woman was dragged underneath the car), and the company’s handling of the incident. Regulators revoked Cruise’s permit in the state of California, and Cruise temporarily grounded its fleet nationwide. GM also replaced Cruise’s senior management and took control of day-to-day operations, with Vogt leaving the company around the same time.
Dumping the Origin seems like a safe bet for a company eager to regain confidence with the public and regulators. After all, many people are still uncomfortable with the idea of autonomous cars (sometimes even attacking them on the streets)—not to mention autonomous cars that don’t really look like cars at all. And a dysfunctional car stuck in traffic with no steering wheel or pedals is harder to move than something people already know how to use, adding one more potential element of risk.
That said, Cruise competitors aren’t slowing down when it comes to these futuristic robo-taxi vehicles. Waymo is running its own manual tests with Chinese automaker Zeekr in San Francisco (Waymo uses traditional vehicles for its current operations). And just last week, Aicha Evans, CEO of Amazon-owned Zoox, laid out her company’s plans to jump into commercial service out-of-the-gate with its own zero-steering-wheel vehicle when it launches commercial service. Zoox, which started offering rides to friends and family last year, has no traditional cars in its fleet.
“The way we look at that, is if you have to have manual interaction—this is not a robo-taxi,” Evans said on stage at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference last week.
Cruise cofounder Vogt appears to agree that cars without steering wheels are the future. As he wrote on X yesterday, in reference to GM and its Origin move: “It’s like someone keeps letting them look into a crystal ball and then they just go, ‘Nah, we’re good.’”
Barra has many other considerations to take into account than simply having a cool-looking vehicle on the street. Her decision to back away from the Origin is certainly a big change to its self-driving strategy—but whether it signals a retreat from the race or simply a bet on a different horse, remains to be seen.
See you tomorrow,
Jessica Mathews
Twitter: @jessicakmathews
Email: jessica.mathews@fortune.com
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