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Photo credit: Darrell Etherington/Getty
Nine Fleet Managers and executives who worked in business operations, law and policy have left GM’s automotive division after a coup The first investigation into the incident was on October 2 when a pedestrian was dropped and dragged by one of its robotaxis.
The departure was shared with employees via an internal Slack message. Ship spokesman Erik Moser confirmed the departures and shared a statement, but declined to say whether the workers were being fired. TechCrunch was able to reveal that David Estrada, who left the autonomous vehicle Nuro in July to head up the government affairs department, and COO Gil West are among those who were dismissed. West has since updated his LinkedIn profile to announce his retirement.
“Today, after an initial investigation into the October 2 incident and Cruise’s response to it, nine people left Cruise. These include key leaders from Legal, Government Affairs, and Commercial Operations, as well as Security and Systems. As a company, we are committed to full transparency and are focused on rebuilding trust and using high standards when it comes to security, integrity, and accountability and believe that it is necessary a new leadership to achieve these goals.
The first investigation was carried out by the Media Committee and was not part of the investigation led by the company Quinn Emmanuel, which was not released.
The departure comes three weeks after co-founder and CEO Kyle Vogt resigned and less than two months after the California Department of Motor Vehicles suspended Cruise’s operating permit. on public roads after an incident on October 2 in which a pedestrian – who was first hit by a human-driven vehicle and ended up in the path of a Cruise robotaxi – was seen running and draw 20 feet to AV. A video, which TechCrunch watched the day after the event, showed the robotaxi stopping forcefully and coming over the woman. The DMV’s arrest warrant states that Cruise withheld about seven seconds of video footage, which showed the robotaxi then attempting to pull over and eventually drag the woman 20 feet.
Cruise morale has been low since the October 2 incident, with employees pointing fingers at poor management that did not prioritize safety at the company. Without commercial permits to operate in San Francisco and an internal decision to stop its driverless ships in other states, the company laid off contract workers, deepening the uncertainty.
The first layoff affected contract workers whose jobs included cleaning, filling and maintaining vehicles as well as answering customer support questions. Not all workers, who are employed by another group, were laid off. Most layoffs affecting full-time employees are expected this month.