Cruise sidelines entire U.S. robotaxi fleet to focus on rebuilding 'public trust'

In the wake of California withdrawing Cruise's permit to operate self-driving cars in the state, the company said on Friday it's suspending all U.S. robotaxi operations. The move comes after the California Department of Motor Vehicles alleged that Cruise withheld from regulators video footage of a Cruise robotaxi dragging a person down a city street. The future for the company is anybody's guess. Its parent company, General Motors, has lost $1.9 billion on Cruise thus far this year, including a $732-million loss in the third quarter, according to its latest earnings report. Competitor Ford shut down its Argo robotaxi unit in 2002, concluding that the possibility of far-off profits weren't worth the enormous cash drain.