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Kyle Vogt

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Kyle Vogt
Kyle Vogt at TechCrunch Disrupt
Vogt in 2018
Born1984 or 1985[1]
Kansas City, Kansas, US
EducationMassachusetts Institute of Technology
Occupations
  • Businessman
  • entrepreneur
Known forFounder and former chief operating officer, Cruise

Kyle Vogt (born 1984 or 1985) is an American businessman. In 2013, Vogt founded Cruise Automation, where he was the president, chief executive officer and chief technology officer until resigning on November 19, 2023.[2][3] Cruise develops self-driving car technology and, since being acquired in May 2016, operates as an independent subsidiary of General Motors.

Early life and education

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Vogt, a native of Kansas City, Kansas, has been passionate about the concept of autonomous driving since his teenage years.[4] Growing up in suburban Johnson County, Kansas, Vogt attended public schools in the Olathe and Shawnee Mission school districts.[5] In 2004, he graduated from Shawnee Mission Northwest High School. He studied computer science and electrical engineering as an undergraduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. While there, Vogt participated in the 2004 DARPA Grand Challenge, a seminal event that many key players in the autonomous vehicle space credited with spurring the development of technology fundamental to self-driving cars.[6] Also while he was at MIT, Vogt interned at Roomba-maker iRobot and competed in two seasons of BattleBots.[7]

Career

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Justin.tv and other ventures

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Vogt left MIT during his junior year to take a job with the team that would go on to form Justin.tv and Twitch.[5] A co-founder at Justin.tv, Vogt was later described as the "creative genius" at the start-up, who "hero-coded" the company out of problems and designed the camera systems necessary for live streaming.[8] As reported in Fortune, according to Justin.tv co-founder Justin Kan, Vogt would "just, like, lock himself in a room for three days and code away and then emerge with something that worked."[8] Justin Kan's younger brother and future co-founder of Cruise, Dan Kan, spent a summer interning at Justin.tv.

In June 2011, Vogt became co-founder at both Socialcam and Twitch,[9] both of which were acquired, Socialcam for $60 million[10] and Twitch by Amazon in a deal for $970 million.[11]

Cruise Automation

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Following his departure from Twitch, Vogt turned to autonomous vehicles and founded Cruise Automation in October 2013 as President and Chief Technology Officer.[8] Early on, the company participated in Y Combinator, a startup accelerator that mentors up-and-coming entrepreneurs. Cruise was acquired by General Motors in March 2016, reportedly for over $1 billion.[12] Vogt and Cruise Co-Founder Dan Kan were the youngest senior directors at GM. Vogt and Kan were listed as number 7 on Fortune's 2016 40 Under 40 List.[8][13] In December 2021, after Cruise CEO Dan Ammann left the company, Vogt became interim CEO until February 2022 when he became CEO, maintaining his CTO and President titles.[14]

Vogt resigned from his position as CEO in November 2023 after the California DMV suspended all Cruise autonomous operations in the state.[15] A subsequent internal investigation conducted by the Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan law firm concluded that the DMV's suspension of Cruise' operations was largely the result of deficient leadership at Cruise, and identified multiple instances of Vogt withholding information from media.[16] The firm also concluded, "no Cruise executives or employees intended to deceive regulators during their interactions following the incident," according to the Wall Street Journal.[17]

The Bot Company

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Vogt co-founded a robotics startup called the Bot Company with $150 million in seed funding in 2024. The company intends to build robots designed to perform household tasks for individuals.[18][19]

References

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  1. ^ Mickle, Tripp; Metz, Cade; Lu, Yiwen (November 3, 2023). "Cruise Grew Fast and Angered Regulators. Now It's Dealing With the Fallout". The New York Times.
  2. ^ Bensinger, Greg (20 November 2023). "GM's Cruise robo-taxi CEO resigns from company". Reuters. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
  3. ^ "Cruise". getcruise.com. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
  4. ^ Clifford, Catherine (26 April 2016). "This 29-Year-Old Entrepreneur Was Rejected by 35 Potential Employers. Now, He's the Co-Founder of a $1 Billion Startup. Here's How". entrepreneur.com. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  5. ^ a b "Shawnee Mission Northwest grad played key role in online startup Twitch". kansascity.com. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  6. ^ "How the Bay Area took over the self-driving car business". sfchronicle.com. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  7. ^ Bergen, Mark (11 March 2016). "Meet Kyle Vogt, the 'Robot Guru' Who Just Sold His Second Billion-Dollar Startup in Two Years". Vox. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  8. ^ a b c d "Driven In The Valley: The Startup Founders Fueling GM's Future". fortune.com. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  9. ^ "Twitch: A global community creating the future of live entertainment". Y Combinator. Retrieved 2022-08-13.
  10. ^ "Mobile Video Sharing App Socialcam Acquired By Autodesk For $60 Million – TechCrunch". techcrunch.com. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  11. ^ "Meet Kyle Vogt, the 'Robot Guru' Who Just Sold His Second Billion-Dollar Startup in Two Years". recode.net. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  12. ^ "GM Buying Self-Driving Tech Startup for More Than $1 Billion". fortune.com. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  13. ^ "40 Under 40: The Most Influential Young People in Business 2017". 17 August 2017.
  14. ^ Korosec, Kirsten (28 February 2022). "Cruise co-founder Kyle Vogt retakes CEO spot after GM exec's sudden departure". techcrunch.com. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  15. ^ Lu, Yiwen; Mickle, Tripp (19 November 2023). "Cruise's C.E.O. Quits as the Driverless Carmaker Aims to Rebuild Trust". Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  16. ^ Field, Hayden; Wayland, Michael (25 January 2024). "Probe into GM's Cruise finds poor leadership, culture issues at center of accident response". CNBC. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
  17. ^ Bobrowsky, Meghan. "GM's Cruise Says U.S. Is Investigating Driverless Car's Collision With Pedestrian". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 16 July 2024.
  18. ^ Cai, Kenrick (13 May 2024). "Cruise Cofounder Kyle Vogt Raised $150 Million For Household Robot Startup". Forbes.
  19. ^ Welch, David (13 May 2024). "Cruise Founder Kyle Vogt Starts VC-Funded Robotics Startup". Bloomberg News.
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