Cruise, GM's troubled robotaxi unit, gets a new CEO

By Claudia Assis

Videogame veteran takes the reins some seven months after co-founder's departure, fleet's grounding

Cruise, General Motors Co.'s troubled self-driving unit, said late Tuesday it has named an Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp. veteran its new chief executive, some seven months after the departure of its previous CEO and co-founder following a string of accidents and a fleet grounding.

Cruise said it appointed Marc Whitten as its CEO, effective July 16. "Marc is a proven leader with decades of experience on the frontlines of technology transformations," Cruise said.

Whitten was a founding engineer at Microsoft's (MSFT) Xbox and Xbox Live, and at Amazon (AMZN) he was general manager and vice president across a range of entertainment devices and services, including Fire TV, Kindle, and Amazon apps and entertainment services, Cruise said.

Most recently, Whitten served as chief product and technology officer at Unity Software Inc. (U), where he helped expand the use of AI and the company's real-time 3D technology, which powers most real-time games and apps, the GM (GM) unit said.

Cruise co-founder Kyle Voigt resigned from his CEO position in November, shortly after a crash involving a San Francisco pedestrian and the suspension of Cruise's operations on public roads. Less than a month later, Cruise announced layoffs and more executive departures.

Cruise earlier this year reportedly settled with pedestrian, who was severely injured, for at least $8 million. In January, the subsidiary disclosed U.S. Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission probes into the October crash.

As of June, Cruise had resumed supervised autonomous driving in Phoenix, Houston and Dallas, in addition to ongoing testing in Dubai.

-Claudia Assis

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06-25-24 1730ET

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