llm/c952dc1c-1500-4426-8823-61ab4a37cd1c/topic-4-8cf00e35-ff47-400a-bae0-88a1ccb61ba6-output.json
Former Cruise employees and industry observers express deep bafflement at GM’s decision to pull funding just as autonomous technology reached critical safety benchmarks, viewing the move as a repeat of the automaker's historical tendency to sabotage its own innovations. Many attribute the failure to a profound cultural mismatch between a risk-averse legacy corporation and a high-stakes tech startup, further exacerbated by internal power struggles and leadership's mishandling of high-profile safety incidents. While some argue that GM fumbled a trillion-dollar opportunity by retreating into safer driver-assistance software, skeptics suggest Cruise was simply outmatched by Waymo's technical superiority and destined to be "chopped for spare parts."