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Cruise
Unicorn exit · $30BAcquiredYC W14YC Top CompanySan Francisco, US · Founded 2013 · 3,000 employees · 42 known investors
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Acquired by General Motors March 2016 · terms undisclosed · source ↗
Cruise develops autonomous electric vehicle technology for urban transportation. The company aims to provide mobility solutions for people in densely populated cities.
Also known as Cruise Automation · Cruise LLC · GM Cruise Holdings LLC
Founders & leadership· Y Combinator alumni (W14)
Cruise was founded in 2013 by Kyle Vogt and Daniel Kan.
Investors · 42
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Also in the syndicate · 4
Reported raises · per SEC filings
Form D private placements$6.8B disclosed across 2 of 15 rounds · 2016–2025
▶$4BraisedAug 2024 · 3169 investors · Other TechnologyRule 506(b)
- Jon McNeillDirector
- Sheldon QuanExecutive Officer
- John KimExecutive Officer
- Mo ElshenawyExecutive Officer
- Ryan DubucExecutive Officer
- Wesley BushDirector
- Devin WenigDirector
- Marc WhittenExecutive Officer, Director
- Aaron FeinbergExecutive Officer
- Mark ReussDirector
- Aneel BhusriDirector
- Mary BarraDirector
- Craig GliddenExecutive Officer, Director
- Amount sold
- $4B
- First sale
- Aug 2018
- Incorporated
- Limited Liability Company, Delaware
- Federal exemptions
- 06b
▶$2.7BraisedJun 2021 · 40 investors · Other TechnologyRule 506(b)
- Kyle VogtExecutive Officer, Director
- Mary BarraDirector
- Daniel AmmannExecutive Officer, Director
- Margaret CurryExecutive Officer
- Devin WenigDirector
- Douglas ParksDirector
- William NashExecutive Officer
- Mark ReussDirector
- Craig GliddenDirector
- Jeffrey BleichExecutive Officer
- Sheldon QuanExecutive Officer
- Regina DuganDirector
- Gerardo LopezDirector
- Offering amount
- $3B
- Amount sold
- $2.7B
- Sales commissions
- $5.7M
- Placement agents
- Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC
- First sale
- Jan 2021
- Incorporated
- Limited Liability Company, Delaware, 2018
- Federal exemptions
- 06b
Source: SEC EDGAR Form D. Amounts as filed; amended filings shown once at their latest values.
Valuation · disclosed
Disclosed eventsSource: SEC prospectus filings, and round valuations the company or its investors disclosed — follow each entry's link for the claim.
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Cruise LLC was an American self-driving car company headquartered in San Francisco, founded in October 2013 by Kyle Vogt and Dan Kan. It initially developed the RP-1, a roughly $10,000 direct-to-consumer retrofit kit that added an autonomous on-demand highway feature to 2012-or-later Audi A4 and S4 vehicles. In January 2014 the company abandoned the RP-1 in favor of building a fully autonomous vehicle based on the Nissan Leaf, and by 2015 had shifted entirely to writing software for fully self-driving vehicles, concluding that city driving was the harder and more valuable problem. Cruise went through the Y Combinator accelerator (Winter 2014 batch) and received a California DMV permit to test self-driving technology in June 2015.
After General Motors acquired the company in March 2016, Cruise operated as a largely independent subsidiary responsible for both technology and commercialization, developing autonomous hardware and software on modified Chevrolet Bolts and later designing the purpose-built Cruise Origin robotaxi. Products included the Cruise AV and Cruise Origin; the company also developed its own chips for self-driving applications. Cruise obtained California's first Driverless Deployment Permit in June 2022, allowing it to charge for driverless rides, and expanded testing and service beyond San Francisco to Phoenix, Austin, Dallas and Houston. The company's stated philosophy emphasized shared rather than individual vehicle ownership to reduce emissions, collisions and urban congestion.
Operations were suspended in October 2023 after a robotaxi ran over and dragged a pedestrian who had been thrown into its path by a human driver; California regulators suspended Cruise's permits, the fleet was grounded nationwide, Kyle Vogt resigned as CEO in November 2023, and about 24% of staff were laid off. Vehicles returned to public roads for testing in May 2024, but in December 2024 GM announced it would stop funding robotaxi development and fold Cruise into its internal technical teams focused on Super Cruise driver assistance and personal autonomous vehicles. GM completed its buyout of minority shareholders in early February 2025, and Cruise cut nearly 50% of its workforce, including CEO Marc Whitten and several other executives.
Founding story
Founded in October 2013 in San Francisco by Kyle Vogt and Dan Kan. Vogt, who studied computer science and electrical engineering at MIT, had previously co-founded Justin.tv, Twitch (acquired by Amazon) and Socialcam (acquired by Autodesk); Kan previously built Exec. The company joined Y Combinator's Winter 2014 batch and first pursued consumer retrofit kits before moving to full autonomy.
Business model
Cruise operated as a majority-owned (later wholly-owned) subsidiary of General Motors, developing autonomous driving hardware and software and running a commercial driverless ride-hailing (robotaxi) fleet. Following GM's December 2024 decision, the business model shifted away from ride-hailing toward supplying autonomous vehicle technology for GM personal vehicles and driver assistance systems.
Fare-based revenue from paid driverless ride-hailing after receiving California's first Driverless Deployment Permit in June 2022. The Verge reported Cruise lost $561 million in Q1 2023 with most of its roughly $30 million in revenue coming from interest and other non-operating income; the company had targeted $1 billion in revenue by 2025 and $50 billion by 2030.
Traction
Reached a $30 billion valuation and more than $7 billion in investment, with 250,000 fully driverless rides delivered according to Y Combinator's founder profile. As of September 2022 the company operated about 100 robotaxis in San Francisco with plans for 5,000. Headcount grew from roughly 40 at acquisition in 2016 to over 100 later that year, close to 200 by June 2017, about 3,800 in 2023, roughly 2,100 by January 2024 and nearly 2,300 as of December 2024.
Latest developments
GM announced on 10 December 2024 that it would stop funding Cruise robotaxi development, citing competition, capital allocation priorities and the time and resources needed to scale, and would merge Cruise with GM technical teams working on Super Cruise and personal autonomous vehicles, targeting more than $1 billion in annual savings. GM, which owned about 90% of Cruise, secured agreements to raise its stake above 97% and completed the acquisition of GM Cruise Holdings LLC in early February 2025 following board approval. On 4 February 2025 Cruise laid off nearly 50% of its workforce; CEO Marc Whitten, CHRO Nilka Thomas, Chief Safety Officer Steve Kenner and public policy head Rob Grant departed, while chief technologist Mo Elshenawy stayed through the end of April to assist the transition. Laid-off staff remained on payroll through 5 April 2025 with severance and benefits.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
One of a small group of well-funded U.S. robotaxi developers alongside Alphabet's Waymo, Hyundai-backed Motional and Amazon-owned Zoox, and the first company to offer driverless rides for a fee in a major U.S. city. Its position eroded during the 2023-2024 operational suspension as Waymo expanded commercially and rivals including Tesla, Pony.ai, WeRide, Wayve and Zoox advanced.
Cruise combined an all-electric, purpose-built driverless vehicle program (Cruise Origin) with in-house silicon and full-stack autonomy software, and was the first operator to receive California's Driverless Deployment Permit allowing paid driverless rides in a major city. It retained unusual operational independence within General Motors, with responsibility for both technology and commercialization.
Technology
All-electric autonomous vehicle technology combining self-driving software with purpose-built and retrofitted hardware. Early work involved the RP-1 highway autopilot retrofit kit for Audi A4/S4 and an autonomous Nissan Leaf; later development used modified Chevrolet Bolts and the purpose-built Cruise Origin, with a 2024 pivot to a vehicle based on the second-generation Bolt EV. The company developed in-house chips for self-driving cars and used Microsoft Azure cloud and edge computing for its ride-hailing service. A retrofitted sensor solution internally called Project Rhino was intended to add visibility beneath the vehicle.
Go-to-market
City-by-city permitted deployment: testing permits from the California DMV, driverless taxi permit in September 2021, public service opening in February 2022, and California's first paid Driverless Deployment Permit in June 2022, followed by announced expansion to Phoenix and Austin and testing in Dallas and Houston. A joint venture with GM and Honda was planned to launch a driverless ride-hail service in Japan in early 2026 before Honda withdrew funding.
Urban riders in dense cities using on-demand driverless ride-hailing; after the 2024 strategy change, GM vehicle owners as end users of personal autonomous and advanced driver assistance systems.
Geography
Headquartered in San Francisco, California. Robotaxi service and testing spanned San Francisco, Phoenix, Austin, Dallas, Houston and the wider Bay Area; a planned joint-venture ride-hail service in Japan with GM and Honda was shelved.
History
2013: founded; 2014: RP-1 retrofit kit abandoned in favor of an autonomous Nissan Leaf; Winter 2014 Y Combinator batch; 2015: shift to full self-driving software and California DMV test permit; March 2016: acquired by General Motors; 2017-2022: large investments from GM, SoftBank Vision Fund, Honda, Microsoft, Walmart and T. Rowe Price; 2018: Dan Ammann named CEO; 2021: driverless taxi permit, first driverless ride, acquisition of Voyage; 2022: public service launch, Kyle Vogt named CEO, first Driverless Deployment Permit, SoftBank stake repurchased by GM; October 2023: pedestrian dragging incident, permit suspensions and operational shutdown, Vogt resignation and 24% layoff; May 2024: vehicles returned to public roads; December 2024: GM ends robotaxi funding; February 2025: GM completes full acquisition and Cruise cuts nearly 50% of staff.
Risks & controversies
On 2 October 2023 a Cruise robotaxi ran over a pedestrian who had been flung into its path by a human-driven car and dragged her roughly 20 feet during a pullover maneuver; Cruise did not immediately disclose the full details to authorities, prompting the California DMV and CPUC to suspend its permits and the company to ground its national fleet. NHTSA fined Cruise $1.5 million for failing to disclose crash details, and a third-party probe ordered by GM and Cruise found cultural problems, ineptitude and poor leadership behind the regulatory failures, while finding no evidence supporting cover-up allegations. Earlier, an August 2022 software recall covered 80 vehicles after a June crash. Plans to scale the San Francisco fleet to 5,000 vehicles drew criticism over added congestion. Financial risks were substantial: GM spent more than $10 billion on Cruise and roughly $2 billion annually before ending robotaxi funding; Microsoft recorded an $800 million impairment charge, and Honda halted its Japan joint-venture funding.
Compiled by commissioned research from 15 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Founder mafia
The Cruise mafia →53 people who came through Cruise went on to found or lead other companies.
Related companies · 5
Companies working in the same space as Cruise.
Timeline · 40
launches, deals, and filingsGM hires former Tesla executive Ronalee Mann as it explores a renewed internal autonomous-vehicle effort, distinct from the shut-down Cruise robotaxi business.
Following approval of GM's merger offer by the Cruise board, GM completed the purchase of remaining minority shares, making Cruise a wholly-owned subsidiary.
Cruise cut approximately 50% of its employees as it wound down robotaxi operations. CEO Marc Whitten, CHRO Nilka Thomas, Chief Safety Officer Steve Kenner and Global Head of Public Policy Rob Grant departed; Mo Elshenawy stayed through end of April. Laid-off staff remained on payroll through April 5 with severance and benefits.
Cruise is formally integrated into GM's core engineering organization, effectively ending its era as a semi-independent robotaxi company.
Honda said it would stop funding the joint venture with GM and Cruise to launch a robotaxi service in Japan, previously planned for early 2026. Honda's total investment in Cruise was $852 million.
Microsoft disclosed in a regulatory filing an $800 million impairment charge tied to GM's shutdown of the robotaxi program, with an estimated $0.09 negative impact on second quarter diluted EPS.
$800M source ↗
GM announced it would no longer fund robotaxi development, citing competition, capital allocation priorities and scaling costs, and would fold Cruise into GM technical teams focused on Super Cruise and personal autonomous vehicles, cutting spending by over $1 billion.
GM announces it will stop funding Cruise's stand-alone robotaxi business, redirecting remaining technology/personnel toward personal-vehicle ADAS (Super Cruise) and moving to take full ownership of the entity.
NHTSA fines Cruise for failing to promptly disclose the full severity of pedestrian injuries from the October 2023 incident.
GM postponed Origin production indefinitely; Cruise shifted to developing autonomous vehicles based on the next-generation Chevrolet Bolt.
Former Amazon/Microsoft executive Marc Whitten becomes Cruise's CEO.
Cruise began returning its vehicles to public roads, later testing in Phoenix, Dallas, Houston and the Bay Area.
Cruise lays off roughly a quarter of its workforce (~900 employees) amid the operational shutdown.
Co-founder and CEO Kyle Vogt resigns following the fallout from the October 2023 incident and DMV suspension.
Co-founder and CEO Kyle Vogt resigned; GM assigned executive Craig Glidden to a role at Cruise following the safety incident.
Cruise voluntarily halts all driverless operations across Phoenix, Austin, Dallas, Houston, and Miami.
The California DMV suspends Cruise's permits to operate driverless vehicles statewide, citing an unreasonable risk to public safety and Cruise's incomplete disclosure of incident footage.
A Cruise robotaxi ran over a pedestrian thrown into its path by a human-driven vehicle and dragged her about 20 feet. California's DMV and Public Utilities Commission suspended Cruise's permits and the company grounded its U.S. fleet.
A Cruise robotaxi drags a pedestrian (initially struck by a separate hit-and-run driver) approximately 20 feet after failing to stop safely, triggering major regulatory and public backlash.
By the end of 2023, 24% of Cruise's workforce had been laid off and operations outside San Francisco ceased.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration fined Cruise $1.5 million for failing to disclose details of the October 2023 pedestrian crash.
$1.5M source ↗
Cruise said it would expand service to Phoenix, Arizona and Austin, Texas within three months, targeting $1 billion in added revenue by 2025.
Cruise recalled and updated software in 80 vehicles following a June 2022 crash.
Permit allowed Cruise to charge fees for driverless rides, making it the first company to offer paid driverless rides in a major U.S. city.
California PUC grants Cruise its first driverless deployment permit, allowing fee-charging robotaxi rides in San Francisco.
GM acquired SoftBank Vision Fund 1's roughly 20% equity ownership in Cruise for $2.1 billion.
$2.1B source ↗
Kyle Vogt takes Cruise's first fully driverless (no safety driver) ride on San Francisco public roads.
Permit allowed Cruise to provide rides without safety drivers.
Cruise unveils the Origin, a purpose-built driverless shuttle with no steering wheel or pedals, built on GM's EV platform.
Honda invests $750 million and commits to $2 billion more over 12 years to co-develop a purpose-built autonomous vehicle with Cruise.
SoftBank's Vision Fund invests $2.25 billion in Cruise, with GM committing an additional $1.1 billion.
GM said it would invest $14 million to expand Cruise operations in California, adding an estimated 1,163 full-time employees by 2021.
$14M source ↗
GM acquires Cruise Automation for a reported price of over $1 billion (with some reports citing a $580M base plus incentives), forming what becomes GM Cruise Holdings LLC.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
Legal entities · 1
corporate structureIn the news
▸Research sources · 15
primary sources listed
- Cruise (autonomous vehicle) - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org · web
15 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Cruise do?
- Self-driving car company acquired by General Motors in 2016; robotaxi operations wound down after GM cut funding in December 2024.
- Who founded Cruise?
- Cruise was founded by Kyle Vogt, Daniel Kan in 2013.
- Who are Cruise's investors?
- Cruise's investors include 11.2 Capital, Coelius Capital, Draper Associates, Felicis Ventures, Founder Collective, Founders Fund, General Catalyst, Homebrew and 30 more.
- How much funding has Cruise raised?
- Cruise has disclosed $6.8B raised across 2 of its 15 known rounds.
- Where is Cruise headquartered?
- Cruise is headquartered in San Francisco, US.