GM pauses production of Cruise Origin built in Detroit amid safety investigation
Jamie L. LaReau, Detroit Free Press
Updated 4 min read
General Motors is pausing production of its fully autonomous Cruise Origin built at Factory Zero in Detroit and Hamtramck.
This comes weeks after the California Department of Motor Vehicles pulled Cruise's permit to operate the self-driving robotaxis in San Francisco after an incident on Oct. 2 in which a Cruise vehicle pinned a pedestrian underneath it.
Cruise, the San Francisco-based subsidiary of GM, has since suspended all of its U.S. operations as regulators investigate the safety of the self-driving vehicles it currently uses: modified Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles with driver controls in them but no safety driver. Though Origin vehicles have been built, none have yet been put into use.
A worker assembles a Cruise Origin self-driving vehicle at Factory Zero in Detroit and Hamtramck.
In an email to the Detroit Free Press, GM spokesperson Chaiti Sen said of the Origin production, "We are finishing production on a small number of pre-commercial vehicles and after that, plan to temporarily pause production."
Sen did not respond to further questions about why the automaker was pausing production or answer other questions. A Cruise spokesperson did not immediately provide a comment.
But a person familiar with production at Factory Zero, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said regular production of the Origin is expected to restart in mid-January and no one will be laid off. GM builds the GMC Hummer all-electric pickup and SUV as well as the commercial Silverado EV pickup at Factory Zero. Those employees who were building the Origin will switch to work on the assembly of other products, the person said.
The Origin is a small bus-like vehicle that will transport up to six people without a driver. It has no manual steering controls or pedals in it.
Cruise and GM have been waiting since early 2022 for approval from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to be exempted from current federal safety standards — which are written for cars that have a steering wheel and pedals — to mass produce and deploy the Origin on roads. Cruise wants to deploy up to 2,500 of the cars a year.
In September, Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt told an investor conference that the company was “days away” from regulatory approval to start mass production of the Origin. He said that, "would let us start production and almost immediately start putting these vehicles on the road."
This is how the inside of a Cruise Origin will look if they are permitted to go into production and service on U.S. roads. GM and Cruise have petitioned NHTSA for exemption from federal safety standards so GM can start building the Origin at Factory Zero in Detroit/Hamtramck.
Then, last month, GM, Cruise and Honda Motor announced a new joint venture to bring driverless taxis to Tokyo in early 2026. This pause will not impact those plans.
Sen's emailed comment also reflected that the company is committed to self-driving cars.
"We believe autonomous vehicles will transform the way people move around the world, and the Origin is an important part of the AV journey — it's the first scalable vehicle ever designed specifically for autonomous rides and will make transportation more accessible," Sen said in the statement.
'Hundreds' of Origins built
GM initiated the production pause a couple of weeks ago, said the person familiar with Origin production. This person said there are still a handful of Origins in the system that need to be completed and as soon as new automation is installed in the body shop, those cars will resume production.
The news of the Origin production pause was first reported by Forbes, which obtained audio from a Cruise staff meeting Monday where Vogt outlined Cruise's plans to address safety concerns around its vehicles. Vogt said of the company’s recent halt of its operations that, “because a lot of this is in flux, we did make the decision with GM to pause production of the Origin," according to the Forbes article. Vogt told the staff that GM has produced hundreds of Origin cars already, and that is “more than enough for the near-term when we are ready to ramp things back up.”
The person familiar with Origin production did not have a number for how many have been built, but estimates more than 500 so far this year.
General Motors and Honda have announced a partnership to develop an autonomous vehicle for Cruise. Cruise Automation Generation 2 Bolt EV AV self-driving technology on the streets of San Francisco in November 2017.
Cruise has been using the modified Bolt EVs in its fleets in San Francisco, Austin, Texas, and Phoenix. It has faced criticism after some of the cars were involved in accidents or tied up traffic. Then, on Oct. 2, one of its cars hit and dragged a woman who had been struck by another car.
GM reported in its third-quarter earnings that Cruise has yet to deliver a profit and is costing GM money. In the quarter, GM reported investing $732 million on Cruise compared with a year ago when GM spent $497 million on it. GM CFO Paul Jacobson said the additional investment is to help Cruise expand operations so it can hit its $1 billion revenue target in 2025.
