Honda cuts funding to robotaxi venture with Cruise and GM in Japan

Honda Motor Co. will stop funding a joint venture with General Motors and Cruise to launch a robotaxi service in Japan, now that GM has pulled the plug on Cruise and its commercial robotaxi ambitions, reports The Nikkei.

GM said Tuesday it would cease funding Cruise and instead absorb the company and combine it with its own efforts to develop personal autonomous vehicles. 

While GM owns 90% of Cruise, Honda holds a small minority stake alongside other investors like T. Rowe Price and Microsoft. GM said it plans to buy back shares from minority stakeholders and increase its ownership stake to more than 97%.

Honda, Cruise, and GM announced plans in October 2023 to launch a robotaxi service in Tokyo together in 2026 using Cruise’s purpose-built robotaxis, called The Origin. A few days later, Cruise lost its permits to operate in California and grounded its U.S. fleet after leadership mishandled communications of a safety incident with regulators.

In January 2024, Honda’s CEO said he expected the Japanese automaker to debut AVs closer to the end of the decade. Seven months later, Cruise abandoned its plans to build the Origin robotaxi.