General Motors’ troubled autonomous driving unit Cruise is cutting 900 jobs.

The announcement was detailed in a letter sent to 3,800 of its employees earlier this week by its president and chief technical officer, Mo Elshenawy.

The subsidiary is moving to implement cost reductions and regain public trust after an accident in October involving a pedestrian in San Francisco, which prompted scrutiny from regulators.

Cruise recalled all its cars off the road after California’s Department for Motor Vehicles orders an “immediate suspension” of the unit’s AVs. In November, its then-CEO Kyle Vogt resigned. 

In the letter, Mr Elshenawy said:

“We are making staff reductions that will affect 24% of full-time Cruisers, through no fault of their own. We are simplifying and focusing our efforts to return with an exceptional service in one city to start with and focusing on the Bolt platform for this first step before we scale.”

Engineers would be largely spared from the cuts, thought the letter said some technology positions would be impacted. Those in operations roles will be primarily affected.

Mr Elshenawy continued:

“We are extremely grateful to the departing employees who have helped further our mission, and the remaining Cruisers who will carry that mission forward in our next chapter.”

Cruise announced it would launch scaled-back operations in an unspecified city earlier this year following October’s incident.

Departing employees will be entitled to severance pay, their 2023 bonuses continued subsidised health benefits until May 2024, and additional immigration support for those holding work visas.