Around 550 employees at Motional have been laid off, impacting every team within the company. Key departures include the chief operating officer, Abe Ghabra.
The technical program management team focused on autonomy and cloud operations has been reduced from 44 to 19, while the Milpitas office in Silicon Valley and the Venice office in Los Angeles are being wound down.
Additionally, the team behind Motional’s remote vehicle assistance platform has been heavily cut, along with employees in testing, product, safety, cybersecurity, and legal teams.
Most of the layoffs occurred in Pittsburgh, with around 145 employees affected, primarily software engineers. The autonomy and infrastructure software teams were relatively unaffected.
Motional’s strategic plan now prioritizes the development of its core driverless technology, leading to a reduction in staff across all functions of the business.
Employees laid off will receive a paycheck for 10 weeks, with their last day slated for July 6. They will also receive an additional 28.5% bonus on top of previous bonuses.
