GM just walked away from its robotaxi dream, bailing on its Cruise business as the price tag became too much to stomach. Between the lines: GM can't afford — the cost or the distraction — to work on a moonshot when its core business needs fixing.

General Motors is restructuring Cruise, its self-driving-taxi company, in what amounts to an exit from the robotaxi business and a refocusing on improving driver- assistance technologies for everyday people.

The automaker cited the intense competition for self-driving cars and the steep costs associated with developing them.