GM calls it quits on Mary Barra's $50 billion Cruise robotaxi dream

General Motors Co Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra, clad in her signature leather jacket and masked up pandemic style, climbed into a Cruise robotaxi named Tostada for her first autonomous ride almost three years ago.

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"Oh my God," she exclaimed in a moment GM promoted with a video. "This is incredible."

Now she is shutting down the business, citing the high costs to develop the technology and build out a fleet of cars in multiple cities, retreating from a once-promising market that proved full of reputational pitfalls for the automaker.

Instead, Barra will merge Cruise into GM's operations with more humble goals such as developing advanced safety systems for the vehicles it sells and, one day, offering autonomous driving as a feature on future models.

With the decision to downgrade Cruise, GM is giving up on hopes of transforming itself into a multi-platform technology company that targeted bringing in $50 billion in revenue from robotaxi fares and subscriptions by 2030.

The carmaker had aspired to double its revenue by 2030 on the twin pillars of autonomy and electric vehicles. That goal also now looks remote without Cruise as a new business and after GM scaled-back its lofty EV sales ambitions.