I think this is more a recognition that autonomous vehicle technology is going to take a decade or more to provide driverless rides at a national scale,” said Phil Koopman, a

General Motors said Tuesday it will no longer fund the development of a commercial robotaxi business and will instead absorb its self-driving car

General Motors (GM) said Tuesday that it will no longer fund the development of robotaxis and instead focus on creating fully autonomous personal vehicles. Cruise, GM’s self-driving car subsidiary, will be combined with the automaker’s own team to form a single unit focused on autonomous driving.

It was reported Cruise admitted to lying to federal investigators about the event. The news came after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration hit Cruise with a $1.5 million fine.

The car manufacturer will instead concentrate on developing partially automated driver-assist systems for personal vehicles

GM said it sees a better business case in developing autonomous technology for personal cars rather than to develop robotaxis for Cruise.

General Motors said Tuesday it will stop funding and exit robotaxi development at its majority-owned Cruise business, a blow to the automaker that had made the advanced technology unit a top priority.

GM also pointed to the increasingly competitive robotaxi market as a reason for the move. In October, Tesla boss Elon Musk unveiled the electric car giant's long-awaited robotaxi, the Cybercab, at the Warner Bros Studios in Burbank,

General Motors has bailed on its Cruise robotaxis, citing the amount of time and resources needed to scale the business and an “increasingly competitive” market for autonomous vehicles.