7 ms·

Huge fan of Kyle and the Cruise team. I remember covering Cruise in a class assignment back in 2014, and was very skeptical of the idea of selling self driving

Huge fan of Kyle and the Cruise team. I remember covering Cruise in a class assignment back in 2014, and was very skeptical of the idea of selling self driving kits to existing car owners. Ever since, they've gotten acquired (or something) and are holding up their own against behemoths in the space. Cruise's reviews on Blind are pretty bad, something that keeps me away from joining them as an employee, but I suppose chaos and uncertainty is the price one pays for the ambition to achieve something as wild.

cyrux004 5y ago
> and was very skeptical of the idea of selling self driving kits to existing car owners The good thing is we have comma.ai that works across a wide variety of vehicles.
- silentsea90 5y ago
  I am not as familiar with comma's product, but in 2014, self driving tech was out there enough as an idea for startups to invest in (ie Google moonshot level dreamy), let alone build kits that would retrofit into existing cars and actually work. Thanks for sharing about comma.ai!
AlotOfReading 5y ago
As someone who recently left, many of the complaints on blind aren't anywhere close to my personal experiences. I enjoyed the technical side (which is a bit chaotic), but the admin side is borderline antagonistic to the rest of the company. Moreover, the company is on the losing side of a power struggle with GM. The former CEO was a victim of that, seemingly as was the equity and compensation plan.
- silentsea90 5y ago
  Can you elaborate on the power aspect - specifically - I thought GM had a minor stake and that Kyle/former CEO etc. have controlling stake? If not, I can see that GM would run roughshod over Cruise's plans. As an aside, Cruise comp numbers on levels.fyi seem pretty reasonable so I am unsure where comp is an issue? Does it relate to refreshers?

7 ms·

Huge fan of Kyle and the Cruise team. I remember covering Cruise in a class assignment back in 2014, and was very skeptical of the idea of selling self driving

by silentsea90 5y ago

cyrux004 5y ago
> and was very skeptical of the idea of selling self driving kits to existing car owners The good thing is we have comma.ai that works across a wide variety of vehicles.
- silentsea90 5y ago
  I am not as familiar with comma's product, but in 2014, self driving tech was out there enough as an idea for startups to invest in (ie Google moonshot level dreamy), let alone build kits that would retrofit into existing cars and actually work. Thanks for sharing about comma.ai!
AlotOfReading 5y ago
As someone who recently left, many of the complaints on blind aren't anywhere close to my personal experiences. I enjoyed the technical side (which is a bit chaotic), but the admin side is borderline antagonistic to the rest of the company. Moreover, the company is on the losing side of a power struggle with GM. The former CEO was a victim of that, seemingly as was the equity and compensation plan.
- silentsea90 5y ago
  Can you elaborate on the power aspect - specifically - I thought GM had a minor stake and that Kyle/former CEO etc. have controlling stake? If not, I can see that GM would run roughshod over Cruise's plans. As an aside, Cruise comp numbers on levels.fyi seem pretty reasonable so I am unsure where comp is an issue? Does it relate to refreshers?