Cruise CEO Vogt resigns, executive shakeup continues at self-driving vehicle company
Kyle Vogt, the co-founder and CEO of Cruise, has resigned from his position, according to an email sent to employees Sunday evening. The executive shakeup comes less than a month after the California Department of Motor Vehicles suspended Cruise’s permits to operate self-driving vehicles on public roads following an incident involving a pedestrian who was hit by a human-driven car and subsequently run over and dragged by a Cruise robotaxi.
In a separate internal email, GM Chair and CEO Mary Barra announced that Mo Elshenawy, executive vice president of engineering at Cruise, will serve as president and CTO for Cruise, Craig Glidden, a Cruise board member and GM’s EVP of legal and policy will continue in his current role, and Jon McNeill, who is joining as vice chairman of the Cruise board. No one has been named as CEO as of Sunday.
The executive shakeup comes days after Cruise suspended its employee share-selling program for the fourth quarter, causing employee discontent. However, over the weekend, Cruise backtracked on that move and offered employees a one-time opportunity to sell a limited number of shares.
Vogt and Cruise’s chief product officer Dan Kan founded the autonomous vehicle company in 2013. The startup was then acquired by GM in 2016 in a deal valued at over $1 billion. Prior to Cruise, Vogt had co-founded Justin.tv, Twitch, and Socialcam, which were all acquired by various companies.