On November 18th, Kyle Vogt, CEO of Cruise, GM's self-driving taxi division, apologized for the company's current situation. Previously, an accident occurred in Cruise's self-driving car, which led to the suspension of its self-driving car business and a comprehensive safety review.
In an email sent to employees seen by Reuters, Kyle Vogt also said that the company will make a new takeover offer, allowing employees to sell shares; Just two days ago, the company just cancelled its previous offer, claiming that employees would not be able to sell the shares in the company's repurchase plan this quarter because the company was conducting a comprehensive review.
Cruise launched an equity plan in 2022 to attract and retain talents, allowing current and former employees to sell their acquired shares to GM and other investors every quarter. Suspending the plan now will help GM cut costs after it has to suspend its Cruise business, but it has aroused strong opposition from some employees, who claim that the shares granted to them at a much higher valuation on October 15th will bring them a heavy tax burden.
"We have heard your concerns and are working on a new tender offer plan, which will provide some RSU liquidity to reduce potential tax obligations," Vogt said.
"I'm sorry that the company deviated from the course under my leadership and caused a deep personal influence to many Cruise employees." Vogt wrote in an email to employees. "As CEO, I should be responsible for Cruise's current situation. We have no excuses and will not whitewash what has happened. We need to redouble our efforts in safety, transparency and community participation.
" Vogt also pointed out that the way the company cooperates with regulators, the media and the public "must be improved".
At present, Cruise has suspended all self-driving taxi services in the United States, including self-driving cars equipped with security officers. However, the company continues to test on public roads in Dubai and Japan. In Dubai, Cruise vehicles have recently mainly appeared on several islands in the suburbs of the main city; In Japan, Cruise has been working with Honda to jointly test self-driving cars on public roads in Utsunomiya and the neighboring town of Haga.