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HomeWorldCruise will dispatch some of its trouble-ridden robotaxis to join Uber’s ride-hailing...

Cruise will dispatch some of its trouble-ridden robotaxis to join Uber’s ride-hailing service

Cruise’s troubled robotaxis will team up with Uber’s ride-hailing service next year, part of a multi-year partnership between two companies that at first appeared to be competing for passengers.

The alliance is the latest change of course for Cruise since it was granted a California permit to offer self-driving rides. suspended in October 2023 after one of the robotaxis dragged a pedestrian who ran a red light and was hit by a human-driven vehicle across a dark San Francisco street.

The incident fueled regulatory investigations in Cruise and forced parent company General Motors to temper its once-bold ambitions for autonomous driving.

GM had expected Cruise to generate $1 billion in annual revenue by 2025 as the robotaxis steadily expanded beyond San Francisco and into other cities to provide a self-driving alternative to ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft.

But now GM and Cruise want to make money by pairing the robotaxis with Uber’s human-driven cars, giving riders the option to hail an autonomous ride if they choose. Financial details of the partnership were not disclosed, nor which cities Uber plans to offer Cruise’s robotaxis in the coming year.

If nothing changes, California is not an option, as Cruise’s driver’s license remains suspended in the state.

Meanwhile, a robotaxi fleet from Google spinoff Waymo is expanding from San Francisco to cities in the Bay Area and Southern California. Earlier this week, Waymo announced that its robotaxis are completing more than 100,000 paid rides a week, a figure that includes its operations in Phoenix, where it has operated for several years.

Cruise currently operates Chevy Bolts autonomously in Phoenix and Dallas, with humans behind the wheel ready to take over if something goes wrong. The Uber deal underscores Cruise’s determination to get back to the point where its robotaxis can navigate the roads completely on their own.

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“Cruise is on a mission to use self-driving technology to create safer streets and redefine urban life,” said Cruise CEO Marc Whitten, who fills a void left after Cruise’s founder Kyle Vogt has resigned following the revocation of the driver’s license in California.

GM also laid off hundreds of workers following the California backlash as part of its financial cutbacks after the company lost $5.8 billion from 2021 to 2023 on its robotaxi service. The Detroit automaker also posted a $900 million operating loss on Cruise in the first half of this year, but that was down from nearly $1.2 billion at the same time last year.

Despite Cruise’s recent troubles, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi expressed confidence that the ride-hailing service can get robotaxis back on track.

“We believe Uber can play an important role in safely and reliably introducing autonomous technology to consumers and cities around the world,” Khosrowshahi said.

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