Cruise, the autonomous vehicle company backed by General Motors, is set to launch its self-driving cars on Uber’s ride-hailing platform starting next year.
This multi-year partnership will allow Uber users to choose rides in Cruise’s autonomous vehicles, marking a significant step in Cruise’s efforts to return to U.S. roads after halting operations following a major accident in San Francisco last year. The incident involved one of Cruise’s self-driving cars that failed to detect a pedestrian pinned underneath the vehicle and dragged her for about 20 feet, causing serious injuries.
The companies plan to launch the partnership next year with a dedicated number of Chevy Bolt-based autonomous vehicles. Once launched, when an Uber rider requests a qualifying ride on the Uber app, they may be presented with the option to have that trip fulfilled by a Cruise autonomous vehicle.
Cruise has been manually operating and autonomously testing with safety drivers since June of this year, and is currently working to regain the trust of regulators.
“Cruise is on a mission to leverage driverless technology to create safer streets and redefine urban life,” said Marc Whitten, CEO of Cruise. “We are excited to partner with Uber to bring the benefits of safe, reliable, autonomous driving to even more people, unlocking a new era of urban mobility.”
This article was co-written using AI and was then heavily edited and optimized by our editorial team.
Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by subscribing to our newsletter.
