General Motors (GM)

General Motors produced 189,000 battery electric vehicles in North America during 2024 yet simultaneously shut down its Cruise robotaxi division after accumulating $10 billion in losses against less than $500 million in revenue since 2016. This simultaneous investment and divestment reveals autophagy at corporate scale: GM is consuming its own failed experiments (Cruise) to redirect metabolic energy toward Super Cruise, which projects $2 billion in subscription revenue within five years. The company expects to save $1 billion annually by terminating robotaxi development.

GM's shift from Cruise's shared autonomous shuttles to Super Cruise's personal-vehicle autonomy mirrors evolutionary convergence: Tesla, Mercedes, and GM all arrive at the same "hands-free, eyes-free" phenotype despite different starting points. The hiring of Sterling Anderson (former Tesla Autopilot chief) in 2025 represents horizontal gene transfer—acquiring proven capabilities rather than evolving them internally. GM's 43,982 EV sales in Q4 2024 (12% of total U.S. EV market) shows the company achieving mutualism with early adopters, but the $1.7 billion writedown on Ultium battery costs reveals the platform's promised modularity failed to materialize.

The third-generation Chevy Bolt launching late 2025 on the Ultium platform represents secondary succession: GM abandoned the Bolt in 2023, let competitors (Tesla, Hyundai) occupy the budget EV niche, then returned with improved adaptations. Whether this works depends on whether two years of absence created loyal customers for rivals (path dependence) or pent-up demand GM can capture. The company's number-two position in North American EV sales proves viability, but path dependence from a century of internal combustion creates institutional inertia that pure EV makers avoid.