GM's self-driving car startup Cruise has laid off 8% of its staff, or around 150 workers

• Cruise, the self-driving car firm owned by General Motors, is culling around 8% of its workforce.
• According to Bloomberg, which first reported the news, the move is aimed at cutting costs amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
• Cruise, which has previously raised money from SoftBank's Vision Fund, is thought to have made the cuts across its recruiting, design, product, and business strategy teams.
• "The actions we took today reflect us doubling down on our engineering work and engineering talent," a Cruise spokesman told The Verge.
• Several other firms in the autonomous vehicle sector have made cuts during the coronavirus pandemic, including Zoox, Velodyne, and Starship Technologies.
• Cruise did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
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Cruise, the self-driving car firm owned by General Motors, is culling around 8% of its workforce.

According to Bloomberg, which first reported the news, the move is aimed at cutting costs amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Cruise, which has previously raised money from SoftBank's Vision Fund, reportedly made the cuts across its recruiting, design, product, and business strategy teams. The number of workers culled totals around 150.

A Cruise spokesman was bullish regarding the cuts, telling The Verge that "the actions we took today reflect us doubling down on our engineering work and engineering talent."

The Cruise news follows a depressingly familiar pattern, with several other firms in the autonomous vehicle sector having made staff cuts during the coronavirus pandemic. These firms include including Zoox, Velodyne, Kodiak Robotics and Starship Technologies.

The firm's fleet of self-driving cars has not been in use since March, though some of its vehicles have since been put to use delivering food to food banks in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Cruise did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

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