Microsoft, collateral victim of the closure of Cruise robotaxis

© Cruise

The Cruise robotaxis service has just been put to the stopped by General Motors, which had bought the startup in 2016 for 1 billion dollars. A decision that will cause a certain Microsoft to lose a significant amount of money…

800 million losses…

< p>On December 10, the American automobile giant permanently closed the operations of its subsidiary, causing the Redmond firm to lose $800 million in value. In 2021, the latter participated, alongside Honda, in a $2 billion fundraising round for Cruise. The operation valued it at $30 billion at the time.

An investment that marked the beginning of a long-term partnership between the two companies. Objective: to integrate Microsoft Azure into Cruise's autonomous driving service. A collaboration that will never see the light of day. The loss for the software giant will be recorded in its other income and expenses. It was not included in its second-quarter forecast, but is expected to have a negative impact of about $0.09 on diluted earnings per share in the second quarter, according to a regulatory filing.

© Cruise

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A serious accident in 2023

Before October 2023, Cruise was operating self-driving taxis without safety drivers in San Francisco, Phoenix, and Austin, so much so that it even had ahead of its biggest rival, Waymo.

However, a very serious accident involving one of its vehicles dealt a serious blow to the company, as it failed to spot a woman thrown into its path after being knocked down. Dragged for about twenty meters, the victim nearly lost her life. In the aftermath, Cruise's management left the ship, while the head of its parent company General Motors announced a major restructuring that would lead to the recovery of its activities. In the end, nothing came of it.

” GM is committed to providing the best driving experiences to its customers in a disciplined and capital-efficient manner. Cruise was an early innovator in autonomy, and the deeper integration of our teams, combined with GM’s strong brands, scale and manufacturing strength, will help advance our vision for the future of transportation ,” said CEO Mary Barra.

With this, the company is pivoting to developing autonomous driving for individuals, officially exiting the self-driving taxi business.

• Microsoft will suffer an $800 million loss in value following the shutdown of Cruise.
• The Redmond firm had invested in the company in 2021, and they had even established a long-term strategic partnership.
• Cruise was a major rival of Waymo in the field of autonomous taxis.

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