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Honda Motor will stop financing a joint venture with General Motors and Cruise to launch a robotaxi service in Japan, after GM halted Cruise and its commercial robotaxi ambitions, according to reports. the Nikki.
General Motors said Tuesday it will stop financing Cruise and instead absorb the company and merge it with its own efforts to develop personal, self-driving vehicles.
While GM owns 90% of Cruze, Honda holds a small minority stake along with other investors such as T. Rowe Price and Microsoft. GM said it plans to buy back shares from minority stakeholders and increase its ownership stake to more than 97%.
Honda, Cruise and General Motors announced plans in October 2023 to launch a robotaxi service in Tokyo together in 2026 using a purpose-built robotaxi from Cruise, called The Origin. A few days later, Cruise lost its permits to operate in California and grounded its U.S. fleet after command mishandled communications about a safety incident with regulators.
In January 2024, Honda CEO said He expected the Japanese automaker to launch self-driving vehicles towards the end of the decade. Seven months later, Cruise abandoned its plans to build a robotaxi.
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