Diligent Robotics hires two notable Cruise alumni to its leadership team

Diligent Robotics, an Austin-based startup specializing in humanoid robots for healthcare settings, has strengthened its leadership team by hiring two former Cruise executives: Rashed Haq as chief technology officer and Todd Brugger as chief operating officer. Both bring extensive experience from Cruise, where Haq led AI and robotics efforts and Brugger served as COO. The company, co-founded by Andrea Thomaz and Vivian Chu in 2017, has deployed around 100 Moxi robots across more than 25 healthcare networks, assisting with non-patient-facing tasks in hospitals and pharmacies. Thomaz emphasized that these hires come at a pivotal moment as Diligent prepares to scale operations after a period of refining operational efficiencies. Haq and Brugger see Diligent as a natural progression from their work at Cruise, noting similarities between autonomous vehicles and mobile robots. Haq highlighted the “stickiness” of Diligent’s robots, which are integrated into daily workflows rather than generating transient “vibe revenue.” Brug