Dive Brief:
- General Motors’ autonomous driving unit Cruise has named a permanent chief safety officer, Cruise announced Monday.
- Steve Kenner will supervise Cruise’s safety management systems and operations, according to a company press release. He will report to Cruise President and Chief Administrative Officer Craig Glidden.
- The news comes two months after Cruise dismissed nine top executives and laid off 24% of its workforce, or about 900 workers, amid safety concerns.
Dive Insight:
Cruise is dealing with multiple investigations after one of its autonomous ride-hailing vehicles seriously injured a pedestrian in San Francisco last October, leading the company to suspend operations and recall its robotaxis. GM also halted production of the Cruise Origin, the company’s autonomous ride-hailing vehicle.
Kenner will help Cruise improve safety and reestablish trust with regulators, government officials and the public, Glidden said in a statement.
“Safety governance is a critical gating factor as we return to our mission and get Cruise cars back on the road safely,” said Cruise President and CTO Mo Elshenawy in a statement. “We know that safety is a mindset every engineer and employee throughout Cruise embraces, and that greater accountability will be developed through Steve’s expert leadership.”
Kenner most recently served as vice president of safety at self-driving trucking company Kodiak Robotics. He previously served as global director of automotive safety at Ford in addition to other roles at GM, Chrysler, Uber, Aurora and Apple.
After the crash, GM’s self-driving unit exhibited poor leadership and judgment, as well as an adversarial attitude toward regulators, according to a report GM and Cruise commissioned on the crash.
Cruise has lost 11 members of its executive team since the October crash, including its two co-founders, former CEO Kyle Vogt and Daniel Kan, who resigned in November. The company also fired former Chief Operating Officer Gil West, Chief Legal and Policy Officer Jeff Bleich and senior vice president of government affairs David Estrada, plus six other executives, in December.
However, during the automaker’s Jan. 30 earnings call, GM CEO Mary Barra said Cruise’s “technology is sound” despite the safety concerns and posting a $2.7 billion loss in 2023. GM plans to slow its Cruise investments in 2024 as the company implements a more cautious go-to-market strategy, Barra said.
