General Motors' (GM's) autonomous car subsidiary, Cruise, is implementing a pause on all supervised and manual autonomous vehicle operations in the US, affecting approximately 70 vehicles, as part of efforts to rebuild public trust.

The company has also hired consulting firm Exponent to conduct a comprehensive review of Cruise's safety systems and technology and plans to hire a third-party safety expert and chief safety officer to assess and improve safety operations and culture.

GM also appointed its executive and Cruise board member, Craig Glidden, to lead legal, policy, communications, and finance teams at Cruise.

As per sources, a survey among Cruise employees has revealed significant concerns about the company's safety culture, with 50% expressing low confidence. Over three-quarters of surveyed employees believe Cruise is attempting to scale too quickly.

Analyst QuickTake: GM's increased involvement in Cruise is a logical response to the recent challenges the autonomous vehicle subsidiary has encountered. Regulators were prompted to suspend Cruise's driverless vehicle permit in San Francisco after an incident involving a pedestrian in October. In response to the incident, Cruise withdrew all driverless robotaxis from markets across the US and issued a recall for 950 vehicles to update software. Cruise also started laying off its contingent workers earlier this month.