​​General Motors' (GM's) autonomous car subsidiary, Cruise, has paused production of its custom-built fully autonomous vehicle, Origin, to address safety concerns and is actively engaging with partners and regulators during this period.

The vehicle is a joint development effort by GM, Cruise, and Honda. Cruise had previously noted plans to start mass production of the vehicle in 2023, and was slated to be deployed in central Tokyo as a fleet of 500.

Reportedly, the company has so far built “hundreds” of Origin vehicles, which would be used for its test operations in the near term.

Analyst QuickTake: GM first introduced its custom-built Origin for the autonomous ride-hailing market in January 2020 . The decision to halt the production of Origin is a significant setback for Cruise, coming in the midst of regulatory issues that led to the recent suspension of its driverless vehicle deployment permits in San Francisco and the withdrawal of all robotaxis from markets across the US.