Kyle Vogt, head of technology at Cruise (left), with Voyage CEO Oliver Cameron, who will join Cruise as part of the company’s acquisition.
Journey
General Motors’ majority-owned autonomous vehicle subsidiary, Cruise, has agreed to acquire Voyage, an autonomous driving company that operates in retirement communities.
The companies, which did not disclose the terms of the deal, announced it on Monday in a post on Voyage CEO Oliver Cameron’s blog that he will join Cruise as vice president of product. Cruise spokesman Ray Wert declined to comment on the cost of the deal.
It is unclear how long Cruise will continue to operate in retirement communities. Wert said the “communities in which they operate are not on our immediate roadmap.” Instead, Cruise is focusing on launching a robotaxi business in San Francisco. Most of Voyage’s 60 employees are expected to join Cruise, Wert said.
“The trip is closely aligned with our mission and shares our mindset about safety, accessibility, cost and convenience for customers,” Wert said in an email. “His talented team is highly productive and resourceful, with direct experience in developing a complete stack AV solution that will help accelerate our efforts to build the world’s most advanced autonomous vehicles.”
The acquisition adds to a continued consolidation in the autonomous vehicle sector after years of enthusiasm promoting technology as the next multimillion-dollar market for transportation companies. Some companies, such as Uber Technologies, have given up internal systems development, while others like Zoox sold to Amazon. Alphabet’s Waymo continues to be the most prominent leader, operating a fleet of autonomous public vehicles in Arizona.
The cruise has remained steady in testing since it was acquired by GM in 2016. It has increased its registered test fleet to more than 200 vehicles, but has not yet announced it when it plans to offer a robotaxi fleet to the public at San Francisco. Initially, he planned to do so in 2019.
Other Cruise investors now include Honda Motor, SoftBank Vision Fund, Microsoft and others.
The Cruise-Voyage agreement remains subject to the usual closing conditions.