Cruise Chief Technology Officer Kyle Vogt (left) with Voyage CEO Oliver Cameron, who will join Cruise as part of an acquisition of the company.
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Cruise, the majority subsidiary of General Motors, has agreed to acquire Voyage, a self-driving car start-up operating in retired communities.
The companies, which did not disclose the terms of the deal, made it known Monday in a blog post by Voyage CEO Oliver Cameron, who will join Cruise as vice president of the 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 the retired communities. Wert said the “communities in which they operate are not on our immediate roadmap”. Instead, Cruise focuses on launching a robot taxi company in San Francisco. A majority of Voyage’s 60 employees are expected to join Cruise, Wert said.
“Voyage is closely aligned with our mission and shares our thinking about security, accessibility, cost and convenience for customers,” said Wert in an email. “Their talented team is highly productive and resourceful, with direct experience developing a full-stack AV solution that will accelerate our efforts to build the world’s most advanced self-driving vehicles.”
The acquisition contributes to an ongoing consolidation in the autonomous vehicle industry after years of enthusiasm to tout the technology as the next multi-trillion market for transportation companies. Some companies, such as Uber Technologies, have given up in-house development of the systems, while others, such as Zoox, have sold to Amazon. Alphabet’s Waymo remains the most high-profile front runner, with a public autonomous vehicle fleet in Arizona.
Cruise has remained steadfast in its testing since its acquisition by GM in 2016. It has expanded its registered test fleet to more than 200 vehicles, but has not announced when it plans to offer a robot taxi fleet to the public in San Francisco. Initially it planned to do this in 2019.
Other investors in Cruise now include Honda Motor, SoftBank Vision Fund, Microsoft, and others.
The Cruise-Voyage deal remains subject to customary closing conditions.