GM Losing $5M a Day on Self-Driving Car Project

GM is losing $5 million a day on its self-driving car project
While Cruise has seen some visible growth in 2022, notably getting approval from the California Public Utilities Commission to start charging for driverless rides in San Francisco, and then a commercial robotaxi service when it actually launches, the numbers provide a clear understanding of the long road to profitability. autonomy. vehicle face (AV).

The huge investment required to get to this stage, where Cruise only operates one service in a major US city, shows the automakers’ struggles.

In fact, Cruise’s losses for the first six months of the year were $900 million, which is $300 million more than the $600 million lost in the first six months of 2021.

One of the reasons for the increase is increased employee costs with the expansion of cruise operations.

While these numbers are alarming in themselves, Cruise is not in immediate danger, billions of dollars are still available. And GM CEO Mary Barra remains optimistic about AV’s future potential, telling investors that the self-driving unit could generate $50 billion in annual revenue by 2030.

“​​​​When you have an opportunity to enter a $1 trillion market where you can have a very different technology and product, you can’t take that lightly,” said Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt. “You attacked it aggressively.

“With our strong cash position in Cruise, we can do that and present aggressively, I think, a competitive advantage to the market. And with our current position, the results speak for themselves. But what you’re seeing now is early commercialization.”

Barra said more details on Cruise’s future spending and strategy to achieve profitability will be provided at a Goldman Sachs conference in September. And he hinted that Origin AV could play an important role in Cruise’s future plans. The Origin is a people’s box with subway-style doors without a steering wheel, mirrors, or pedals, which former Cruise boss Dan Ammann made bold predictions about in 2021, but which has yet to be deployed in what will be the company’s main approach. Yippee.