The release of GM's Cruise Origin autonomous vehicle has been indefinitely postponed.

• The production of GM's Origin autonomous vehicle is being indefinitely delayed due to the ongoing struggles of its Cruise self-driving unit.
• The automaker announced that Cruise will prioritize the use of the next-generation Chevrolet Bolt for the development of autonomous vehicles.
• In a Tuesday letter to shareholders, GM CEO Mary Barra announced that the change will reduce Cruise's expenses and "resolve the regulatory ambiguity" regarding the vehicles' absence of manual controls.

The production of Detroit's Origin autonomous vehicle is being indefinitely delayed due to the ongoing struggles of its sister company, Cruise, as it tries to restart its self-driving operations.

The robotaxi unit of the Detroit automaker, Cruise, will now focus on using the next-generation Chevrolet Bolt for the development of autonomous vehicles. For several years, Cruise has been using the discontinued Bolts for autonomous vehicle development.

Cruise's board, led by GM CEO Mary Barra, announced in a letter to shareholders that the company will implement a change to lower costs and address regulatory uncertainty surrounding the vehicles' lack of manual controls such as a steering wheel or pedals.

In its second-quarter earnings report, GM announced a change related to the halt in production of the Origin at a plant in Detroit. The company temporarily stopped production of the Origin in November, following an accident in which a pedestrian in San Francisco was dragged roughly 20 feet by a Cruise robotaxi after being struck by a separate vehicle.

The investigation into the October incident, conducted by a third-party probe at the request of GM and Cruise, revealed that cultural problems, incompetence, and poor leadership were the root causes of regulatory oversights that led to the accident. Additionally, the probe examined allegations of a cover-up by Cruise leadership, but investigators did not find any evidence to support these claims.

At that time, Cruise, a San Francisco-based company, was striving to transform its operations into a profitable business for GM, which has owned a majority stake in the company since acquiring it in 2016. Additionally, other investors such as Intel, T. Rowe Price, and BlackRock have also invested in the company.

In Phoenix, Houston, and Dallas, supervised driving has resumed for Cruise, while it continues to test in Dubai. However, it has not yet relaunched in San Francisco, where it remains under investigation due to the accident.

Although it was not immediately evident how many Origin vehicles the facility has manufactured, it was previously stated that ex-Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt, a co-founder, informed staff that hundreds of Origin vehicles had been produced.

In February 2022, Cruise submitted a petition to U.S. regulators requesting authorization to release up to 2,500 self-driving Origin vehicles without human intervention annually.