OpenAI is not the only company that has lost its own founder. Cruise is also bidding farewell to its co-founders. The only difference is that the latter's executives are leaving on their own as the company is headed to a decline after the recent driverless taxi incident.
Cruise Co-Founders Have Resigned
It's not looking good for the Cruise company as its autonomous vehicles have been suspended and are no longer permitted to operate. General Motors struggles to save the company, but it looks like its co-founders believe that the odds are not in their favor.
Chief Product Officer Daniel Kan was the second to go as he left the company on Monday. It was only a day after Kyle Vogt, Cruise's CEO, CTO, and President resigned, as reported by Gizmodo. Both started the company 10 years ago.
Upon his departure, Vogt announced his resignation on the social media site X which stated: "[Y]ou've got this" while addressing his former colleagues at Cruise and GM. He also added that they should remember why their work matters.
With his newfound free time, Vogt expressed that he will spend more time with his family and explore new ideas. While he also stated that Cruise still has a great future ahead, both co-founders exiting might've sent the wrong message.
As a result of their exits, Executive Vice President of Engineering at Cruise Mo Elshenaway will take over the position of CTO, and former Tesla and Lyft executive Jon McNeill will be added to the board of directors. So far, there have been no announcements about a CEO replacement.
In an email sent to the employees by General Motors CEO Mary Barra, she said they want them to know that they are "intensely focused on setting Cruise up for long-term success," and that public trust is essential to it.
Cruise Incidents
The company was acquired by General Motors back in 2016 with plans in mind to apply its driverless technology to GM vehicles like GMC, Cadillac, and Chevy. Obviously, Cruise still has a lot of kinks to iron out before it is safe.
Ironically, the autonomous vehicle company's aim is to help make the streets safer and make people feel safer. Recent accidents show that the company may have been too hasty with that safety mission. The vehicles so far have caused disruptions and injuries.
For instance, Cruise cars reportedly drove through active crime scenes, and worse, drove over a woman and dragged her for 20 feet. In early October, the driverless taxi also pinned a woman under its wheels as she was hit by another human-controlled car.
The accident happened at Market and Fifth streets. The woman was a victim of a hit-and-run and detecting her as an obstacle, the Cruise driverless taxi halted just as the woman was pinned to the ground with its rear axle and tire over a leg, as per Jalopnik.
San Francisco firefighters had to respond to the scene to forcibly lift the car off using the jaws of life. The woman was then transported to San Francisco General Hospital with "multiple traumatic injuries."
