Report: GM’s Cruise Plans to Resume Offering Rides Before 2025

General Motors’ self-driving unit, Cruise, is hoping to resume public testing that includes offering rides before the end of the year. Reports have also claimed that it also intends on charging fares as part of an autonomous taxi service due sometime in 2025.

Cruise has undertaken restructuring efforts after sustained pushback from San Francisco residents and a series of high-profile accidents. While Waymo likewise caught some flak, Cruise formally suspended operations after striking a pedestrian in October of 2023. The company was already under fire for traffic mishaps and blocking emergency vehicles. But the way the vehicle responded to hitting the pedestrian arguably caused additional injuries after they were dragged over 20 feet.

California regulators suspended the businesses’ driverless license, claiming that Cruise had mishandled the situation and attempted to hide details about the crash.

According to Bloomberg, the company has spent the time between then and now revamping management and trying to to rebuild bridges with state regulators. That last item is essential because San Francisco residents and the local government were already at odds with Cruise. It was primarily state leadership and regulators offering the strongest support.

From Bloomberg:

On GM’s earnings conference call on Tuesday, GM CEO Mary Barra said Cruise’s technology has improved, is meeting tougher safety metrics and progressing toward a return to safety drivers.

“The technology is much more advanced to be better than a role model driver,” Barra said on a call with investors. “I’m very confident as we now have the vehicles operating and we’re on the path very quickly to get back to driverless with much safer technology.”

The company has been running its cars in Phoenix since April and added Dallas and Houston in recent months. Test drivers remain behind the wheel while Cruise updates mapping and driving data in those cities and tests out its technology.

Last month, Cruise hired former Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp. executive Marc Whitten as CEO. Founder and former CEO Kyle Vogt stepped down from the top job in November in the wake of the pedestrian incident. Late last year, GM cut nine other top Cruise executives and a quarter of the workforce to lower costs and instill a safety-minded culture.

Since autonomous vehicle programs are yet to turn a profit, they’re all looking for investors and Cruise is no exception. It continues looking for cash injections and seeking partners with deep pockets that are interested in the continued development of autonomous vehicles.

The company has lost roughly $3 billion over the last twelve months, with nearly $600 million of that going toward restructuring the business. Without a steady revenue stream, it needs to see money coming in from investments to continue testing and development. While that sounds like Cruise is doing horribly, Waymo (often claimed to be the most successful autonomous program) recently announced that it was getting $5 billion from parent Alphabet to cope with losses. For Cruise, GM will be providing $850 million — which should keep it operational into next year when the robotaxi business is assumed to launch.

[Images: Cruise]

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