Kyle Vogt resigns as CEO of GM's Cruise in wake of autonomous vehicle dragging incident

Nov. 20 (UPI) -- Kyle Vogt, the co-founder of the General Motors-owned autonomous vehicle startup Cruise, announced his resignation following recent setbacks.

Vogt did not mention a specific reason for his resignation in a message on social media on Sunday but offered thanks to those who worked with the company.

"The last 10 years have been amazing, and I'm grateful to everyone who helped Cruise along the way," Vogt said. "The startup I launched in my garage has given over 250,000 driverless rides across several cities, with each ride inspiring people with a small taste of the future."

Cruise's executive vice president of engineering Mo Elshenawy will now lead the company.

Earlier this month, Cruise recalled all 950 of its self-driving systems and issued a software update after one vehicle dragged a pedestrian struck by another car.

In a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report, Cruise said the Oct. 2 incident occurred due to a safety response that caused its autonomous vehicles, or AVs, to pull out of traffic after a collision.

Cruise had already paused operations across all of its AV fleets after California suspended its license to operate driverless vehicles in the state over its response to the incident.

Vogt said he still believes that Cruise has a "great future ahead" and that the company would bounce back from its most recent troubles.

"They're executing on a solid, multi-year roadmap and an exciting product vision," Vogt said. "I'm thrilled to see what Cruise has in store next. To my former colleagues at Cruise and GM, you've got this.

"Regardless of what originally brought you to work on AVs, remember why this work matters. The status quo on our roads sucks, but together we've proven there is something far better around the corner."

Vogt said he immediately plans to spend more time with his family and look for "some new ideas."