Kyle Vogt, the co-founder and CEO of Cruise, announced his resignation on Sunday night, less than a month after the financially troubled robotaxi company lost its California operating license and had to suspend operations of its autonomous fleet. The General Motors subsidiary has come under heavy fire for having an aggressive expansion plan that neglected to take safety seriously enough.
The company announced that Mo Elshenawy, who used to be the executive vice president of engineering at Cruise, will now be the president and chief technology officer. The former head, Vogt, shared on X (formerly Twitter) that he’s resigning without stating a specific reason. He mentioned his plan to spend time with family and explore new ideas.
Cruise’s suspension to operate in California
Vogt stepped down approximately six weeks after a severe incident on October 2 in San Francisco, where a woman was seriously injured. The accident happened when a person driving a car hit the pedestrian while she was crossing the street. As a result, she was thrown in front of a self-driving Cruise car, and it pulled her for about 20 feet. The woman was critically ill for several weeks following the incident.
Cruise’s operating permit was revoked by the California DMV on October 24. Two days later, the company withdrew all of its remaining AVs from its operating cities in Arizona and Texas. By the end of 2023, Cruise had originally planned to introduce its fleet to ten cities, including Nashville and San Diego.
Today I resigned from my position as CEO of Cruise. (1/5)
— Kyle Vogt (@kvogt) November 20, 2023
Who is Kyle Vogt?
Kyle Vogt is an American guy born around 1984 or 1985. He created a company called Cruise Automation in 2013 and was in charge as President, CEO, and Chief Technology Officer until November 19th. He’s from Kansas City, Kansas, and has been into the idea of cars that can
Educational background
Vogt grew up in a suburb in Johnson County, Kansas, and attended public schools in Olathe and Shawnee Mission. He graduated from Shawnee Mission Northwest High School in 2004. Later, he went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to study electrical engineering and computer science at the undergraduate level.
: Cruise co-founder and CEO Kyle Vogt resigns from robotaxi
companyhttps://t.co/CzefAE0IGh pic.twitter.com/sD0eS5QeG3— Maitesla (@maitesla) November 20, 2023
In his third year at MIT, Vogt left to join the team that eventually started Twitch and Justin.tv. He played a crucial role in solving problems at Justin.tv and created the camera systems needed for live streaming. Vogt was one of the people who founded the startup.
After leaving Twitch, Vogt got really into self-driving cars and ended up becoming the President and Chief Technology Officer of Cruise Automation in October 2013. At the start, their company joined Y Combinator, which helps new business owners with advice. Then, in March 2016, it’s said that General Motors paid over $1 billion to buy Cruise.
