Self-driving tech company Motional sacks nearly 550 employees in US

SAN FRANCISCO — Autonomous vehicle technology company Motional has sacked around 550 employees, or about 40 per cent of its workforce, in the US, reports said on Saturday.

Nearly 145 of the impacted staff worked in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN).

According to a TechCrunch report on Saturday, Motional “is pausing commercial operations and delaying plans to launch a robotaxi service.”

Every team at Motional has been affected, including the chief operating officer, Abe Ghabra. The team working on Motional’s remote vehicle assistance platform has been “heavily cut”.

Motional said in a statement that it has updated its strategic plan to “focus resources on the continued development and generalisation of our core driverless technology while de-emphasising near-term commercial deployments and ancillary activities.”

 “The team members leaving Motional have our deepest appreciation for their contributions to our goals,” it added.

Motional is a joint venture between Hyundai Motor Group and auto parts supplier Aptiv.