Leadership Change at Cruise as CEO Kyle Vogt Resigns

Kyle Vogt Resigns: Changes in Leadership at Cruise

Kyle Vogt Resigns: In a Sunday evening email obtained by Sattahipnews, it was revealed that Kyle Vogt, the serial entrepreneur who played a pivotal role in co-founding and steering Cruise from a garage startup to its acquisition and ownership by General Motors, has officially resigned from his position.

Mo Elshenawy, the executive vice president of engineering at Cruise, will take over as president and chief technology officer of Cruise, according to a different internal email that was seen by Sattahipnews and was also read by GM Chair and CEO Mary Barra. In a recent development, Craig Glidden, an integral member of the Cruise board and the Executive Vice President of Law and Policy at General Motors, has assumed the role of Chief Administrative Officer at Cruise. 

This strategic appointment signifies a continued collaboration between Cruise and GM, leveraging Glidden's wealth of experience in both legal and policy domains. As he takes on this new responsibility, Glidden is poised to play a pivotal role in steering Cruise's administrative functions and contributing to the company's overarching vision for the future of autonomous vehicles. 

His dual role on the Cruise board and as Chief Administrative Officer positions him at the intersection of policy-making and operational excellence within the rapidly evolving landscape of autonomous driving technology.

Newly appointed to the Cruise board, McNeill, former Tesla president and Lyft COO, will report directly to Cruise Board Chair Mary Barra, enhancing leadership synergy for strategic collaboration. Barra's email is confirmed by a Cruise representative's statement.

Nobody had been announced as the CEO as of Sunday.

The executive reorganization occurs less than a month after the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoked Cruise's authorization to use autonomous vehicles on public roads in response to an incident on October 2 that involved an AV running over and dragging a pedestrian 20 feet after the pedestrian had been struck by a human-driven car and ended up in the path of a Cruise robotaxi. A day after the incident, Sattahipnews saw a video showing the robotaxi violently braking and stopping over the woman. According to the DMV's decision of suspension, Cruise omitted around seven seconds of video that showed the robotaxi trying to pull over and then dragging the victim 20 feet.

Vogt issued the following email to every employee, which Sattahipnews was able to view:

My tenure as Cruise's CEO has come to an end.

 

I'm thankful to everyone who has supported Cruise during the previous ten years, which have been incredible. Since its founding in my garage, the company has provided over 250,000 autonomous trips in a number of locations, giving consumers a glimpse of the future with each journey.

Cruise is still in its infancy, and I think it has a bright future. You are all intelligent, ambitious, and strong. I regret greatly that I will no longer be working with you. But I know you're working with a fantastic multi-year technical roadmap and an exciting product vision, and I can't wait to see what Cruise has planned for the next phase of its development!

Cruisers, you can succeed! Remember why this work matters, no matter what initially drew you to working on AVs. We've shown that better things are on the horizon despite the awful state of affairs on our highways.

Vogt also included the same wording from the internal email in a message that was published on social media on Sunday night, called X. With this message, he concluded the social media conversation. "I want to spend time with my family and consider some new ideas as far as the future goes. I appreciate the wonderful ride.

About fifteen minutes after Vogt delivered his, Barra issued an internal email thanking him for his "tremendous vision, passion, and dedication over the past decade." The email went on to say:

The Cruise Board wishes him luck in his next endeavor and acknowledges and appreciates his decision to step down as CEO. We remain steadfast in our belief in Cruise's purpose and the revolutionary potential of its technology as we strive to improve the safety, cleanliness, and accessibility of transportation.

"We want to emphasize our unwavering commitment to Cruise's sustained success," Barra said. In order to accomplish this, public trust is essential, and we are unwaveringly committed to restoring and enhancing that trust. Three fundamental tenets of our strategy are accountability, openness, and safety. These values will direct all of our actions as we strive to win back the public's trust. We think we can set the stage for a safe and open future for Cruise and its stakeholders if we put these values first.

Since the October 2 tragedy, there has been a lack of morale among employees at Cruise, with many blaming the company's bad management for not prioritizing safety. The company's internal decision to halt its autonomous fleets in other states and the lack of commercial permissions to operate in San Francisco led to the layoff of contract workers, exacerbating the situation.

Contract employees who were responsible for maintaining, charging, and cleaning the cars in addition to responding to customer service calls were among those laid off in the early stages. Not all third-party contractors, or contingent workers, lost their jobs. Still, the roughly 4,000 full-time employees of the company are expected to face more layoffs.

Last week, when Cruise halted its employee share-selling program for the fourth quarter, employee unhappiness increased even more. According to anonymous sources who spoke with Sattahipnews, this move could cost them tens of thousands of dollars or more.

Cruise retracted that decision during the course of the weekend. Vogt announced via email on Saturday that specific staff members will have a one-time chance to sell a restricted quantity of shares. Vogt said the company was working on a plan to launch a fresh tender offer to give restricted stock unit liquidity in order to minimize any potential tax ramifications, but he didn't elaborate. The email has been seen by Sattahipnews.

Vogt continued by extending a broad apologies to his employees for "the situation Cruise is in today."

In 2013, Dan Kan, the chief product executive of Vogt and Cruise, founded the autonomous car business. The two had initially concentrated on kits that might be installed in a car to make it self-driving. The startup quickly changed its business strategy. In March 2016, GM showed interest in the business and paid more than $1 billion in cash and stock to purchase it.

Vogt had previously co-founded Twitch, a live-streaming platform, Justin.tv, a website that let anyone broadcast video online, and Socialcam, a social video tool for mobile devices. Twitch was purchased by Amazon in 2014 for $970 million, while Autodesk purchased Socialcam in 2012 for $60 million.