Honda Motor Co. will cease funding its joint venture with General Motors (GM) and Cruise to launch a robotaxi service in Japan. This decision follows GM’s announcement that it will stop funding Cruise, opting instead to absorb the company and focus on integrating its autonomous vehicle development efforts into GM’s personal vehicle initiatives.
GM owns about 90% of Cruise, with Honda holding a small minority stake, along with other investors like T. Rowe Price and Microsoft. As part of its strategy to consolidate control, GM plans to buy back shares from minority stakeholders, increasing its ownership stake in Cruise to over 97%.
The collaboration between GM, Cruise, and Honda had aimed to debut a robotaxi service in Tokyo by 2026 using Cruise’s purpose-built robotaxi, The Origin. However, plans for the service were put into jeopardy after Cruise lost its operating permits in California and grounded its fleet due to a safety incident in 2023.
In a statement earlier this year, Honda’s CEO noted that the company expected to introduce autonomous vehicles closer to the end of the decade. The recent abandonment of the Origin robotaxi project marks a significant shift in Honda’s autonomous vehicle plans.
