Kyle Vogt, the CEO of Cruise, General Motors’ autonomous vehicle unit, has announced his resignation.
The resignation comes after one of the company’s autonomous vehicles seriously injured a pedestrian.
General Motors announced a recall of the company’s self-driving vehicles after one of the company’s vehicles collided with a pedestrian on October 2 due to an error in the vehicle’s collision detection subsystem. The pedestrian was seriously injured after being hit by the car and dragged 20 feet, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Following the accident, California’s Department of Motor Vehicles pulled Cruise’s license to operate in the state while GM ordered a pause of all its driverless operations until further notice.
Vogt, 38, announced Sunday on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he had officially resigned from his position as CEO. Vogt said he was grateful for the years he spent leading the company as well as the associates who sustained it.
“The last 10 years have been amazing, and I’m grateful to everyone who helped Cruise along the way. The startup I launched in my garage has given over 250,000 driverless rides across several cities, with each ride inspiring people with a small taste of the future,” said Vogt in the social media post.
Vogt offered encouragement to his colleagues.
“Cruise is still just getting started, and I believe it has a great future ahead,” said Vogt. “The folks at Cruise are brilliant, driven, and resilient. They’re executing on a solid, multi-year roadmap and an exciting product vision. I’m thrilled to see what Cruise has in store next!”
Reuters reported that Vogt had sent an email to staff the day before his resignation.
“As CEO, I take responsibility for the situation Cruise is in today. There are no excuses, and there is no sugar coating what has happened. We need to double down on safety, transparency, and community engagement,” reads the email, according to Reuters.
Vogt was co-founder of Twitch, a live-streaming video service that focuses on video games, including esports competitions, music broadcasts, and other creative content. Amazon bought the company in 2014 for $1 billion.
