GM halts production of Cruise driverless van – Forbes

(Refiles to fix syntax in paragraph 3)

(Reuters) – General Motors (NYSE:) is pausing production of its fully autonomous van, the Origin, Forbes reported on Monday, citing an audio of Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt’s address at an all hands meeting.

Vogt in his address remarked on the company’s recent decision to halt driverless operations across its entire autonomous vehicle fleet and told staff that “because a lot of this is in flux, we did make the decision with GM to pause production of the Origin”, according to the Forbes report.

The Cruise Origin vehicle was jointly developed by GM, Cruise and Honda (NYSE:). The Japan service will likely be launched in central Tokyo using dozens of Origins before expanding to a fleet of 500 vehicles, Honda said last month.

Vogt, according to Forbes, told staff during the meeting that the company has produced hundreds of Origin vehicles already, and that it is “more than enough for the near-term when we are ready to ramp things back up.”

GM and Cruise did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The reported decision comes after Cruise, the driverless car unit of General Motors, suspended all operations nationwide after California regulators ordered the robotaxi operator to remove its driverless cars from state roads.

California regulators suspended the company’s license to operate driverless vehicles last month, saying self-driving vehicles were a risk to the public.

(This story has been refiled to fix syntax in paragraph 3)