General Motors' Cruise Delays Debut of Its Driverless Taxis on Safety Concerns

General Motors will not deploy its driverless robotaxis in 2019, due to safety concerns.
By Cherella Cox ,

General Motors (GM) - Get Report , Cruise's majority owner, said Wednesday it will not deploy its driverless robotaxis this year, a deadline it set a year-and-a-half ago.

"When you're working on the large-scale deployment of mission-critical safety systems, the mindset of 'move fast and break things' certainly doesn't cut it," Cruise CEO Dan Ammann posted in a blog.

The sentiment supports GM CEO Mary Barra, who said GM would not release an automated vehicle until it is proved safer than one with a human driver.

Ironically, the postponement came on the day Tesla (TSLA) - Get Report reports second-quarter financial results. Elon Musk's company has vowed to release one million "full self-driving" cars by 2020.

A public deployment isn't far off, Ammann added, in a Bloomberg interview. The company continues to test-drive in urban areas and build out its electric-car charging infrastructure in the interim.

The 21-analyst consensus, according to FactSet, calls for an overweight rating and $47.22 target price on GM. 

The stock was little changed at $40.78 in early trading Wednesday. The shares have a 3.8% dividend yield.

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