Productivity Reimagined

7The Myth of Tech OmnipotenceMyth: Technology is the answer to all productivity problems

In December 2023, Cruise, General Motors’ self-driving car subsidiary, announced that it would lay off nearly one quarter of its work force. The company had invested heavily in a driverless taxi service in San Francisco, hoping to expand to other cities to help defray its high operating costs.

The project didn’t go as planned. After a series of incidents, including one where a pedestrian was dragged 20 feet by a Cruise vehicle, regulators ordered Cruise to shut down the service. A statewide ban followed, and the company then voluntarily took all its vehicles off the streets in the US pending the results of investigations.

As more details became known, people were surprised to learn that those San Francisco robo-cabs were not fully autonomous but assisted by humans. According to a New York Times report,¹ Cruise had set up a call center facility where a large staff – approximately 1.5 workers per vehicle – were monitoring these vehicles remotely and assisting when there were potential problems. Interventions were occurring every 2.5 to 5 miles.

The setback shows just how difficult full autonomy is despite impressive advances in Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) technology, and tens of billions of investment. The auto industry has been telling the public for over a decade that self-driving cars would soon be widely adopted, but as of this writing, the goal posts keep moving.

ADAS, ...