San Francisco, May 11: Autonomous vehicle technology company Motional has sacked around 550 employees, or about 40 per cent of its workforce, in the US, reports said on Saturday. Nearly 145 of the impacted staff worked in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN).
According to a TechCrunch report on Saturday, Motional “is pausing commercial operations and delaying plans to launch a robotaxi service.” Every team at Motional has been affected, including the chief operating officer, Abe Ghabra. The team working on Motional’s remote vehicle assistance platform has been “heavily cut”. Tesla Layoffs: Elon Musk-Run Automaker Escalating Job Cuts in China As Sales Slowdown.
Motional said in a statement that it has updated its strategic plan to “focus resources on the continued development and generalisation of our core driverless technology while de-emphasising near-term commercial deployments and ancillary activities.” Luminar Layoffs: US-Based Self-Driving Tech Developer Cuts 20% of Its Workforce Amid Broader Restructuring of Its Production Process To Reduce Costs.
“The team members leaving Motional have our deepest appreciation for their contributions to our goals,” it added. Motional is a joint venture between Hyundai Motor Group and auto parts supplier Aptiv.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 11, 2024 10:10 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
