General Motors’ Cruise program, on its self-driving cars, is a bottomless pit. The American auto giant continues to lose money.
When General Motors launched Cruise, its brand of self-driving robotaxis, expectations were high. Four years later, while the shuttles are now active in San Francisco, the financial aspect of the brand is alarming.
It’s a total of $5 billion that GM has lost launching Cruise since 2018. Although electric and autonomous shuttles are now chargeable, the situation is not improving. General Motors revealed that it lost $500 million in the second quarter of 2022.
So that’s a net loss of $5.5 million a day to operate and develop Cruise. Brand managers told Reuters that higher wages were a reason for the losses. The desire to charge for rides was also to offset rising costs, but that doesn’t seem to be working.
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Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors, however, assures that the brand has a future of profitability. According to her, the brand could generate $50 billion in annual revenue by 2030. But in the meantime, investors do not seem to appreciate these losses.
The company should have gone public this year to have new investors. Unfortunately, this will not happen as quickly as expected, and the company is therefore dependent on General Motors, as well as investors outside the group.
The problem for GM, on the other hand, is that these investors are beginning to no longer believe in this autonomous car project. Those who were once convinced of the potential of these technologies are now wondering if they will actually hit the road more widely in the future.
General Motors’ Cruise program, on its self-driving cars, is a bottomless pit. The American auto giant continues to lose money.
When General Motors launched Cruise, its brand of self-driving robotaxis, expectations were high. Four years later, while the shuttles are now active in San Francisco, the financial aspect of the brand is alarming.
It’s a total of $5 billion that GM has lost launching Cruise since 2018. Although electric and autonomous shuttles are now chargeable, the situation is not improving. General Motors revealed that it lost $500 million in the second quarter of 2022.
So that’s a net loss of $5.5 million a day to operate and develop Cruise. Brand managers told Reuters that higher wages were a reason for the losses. The desire to charge for rides was also to offset rising costs, but that doesn’t seem to be working.
Read also
Electric car charging, crazy money
Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors, however, assures that the brand has a future of profitability. According to her, the brand could generate $50 billion in annual revenue by 2030. But in the meantime, investors do not seem to appreciate these losses.
The company should have gone public this year to have new investors. Unfortunately, this will not happen as quickly as expected, and the company is therefore dependent on General Motors, as well as investors outside the group.
The problem for GM, on the other hand, is that these investors are beginning to no longer believe in this autonomous car project. Those who were once convinced of the potential of these technologies are now wondering if they will actually hit the road more widely in the future.
