GM's autonomous arm Cruise is terminating 24% of its employees

After months of turbulence and years of financial losses, Cruise, GM's self-driving car division, let off 25% of its personnel on Thursday.

According to Cruise's website, 900 full-time employees, largely in commercial and corporate operations, will be laid off.

A autonomous Cruise vehicle hit a person in downtown San Francisco who had already been hit by another vehicle in October and dragged him for 20 feet. Following the incident, California regulators suspended Cruise's autonomous taxi testing permits. The California Department of Motor Vehicles accused Cruise of hiding accident information and video while canceling its permits. 

Cruise voluntarily halted nationwide operations shortly after.

“We knew this day was coming, but that does not make it any less difficult —especially for those whose jobs are affected,” Mo ElShenawy, president and chief technology officer at Cruise, wrote in a memo to employees announcing the layoffs. The note added impacted employees will receive an email “in a few moments” letting them know whether they are “affected by this staffing reduction.”

ElShenawy said Cruise is “simplifying and focusing our efforts to return with an exceptional service in one city to start with,” but he did not specify which city it will return to. The company has automobiles in San Francisco, Phoenix, and Austin.

The memo said that laid-off workers will remain on payroll until February 12 and may get up to eight weeks of severance compensation, depending on their tenure.