General Motors’ Cruise unit has announced that its autonomous vehicles will be available via the platform of Uber Technologies from 2025.
The announcement of the strategic partnership on Thursday, claimed “two companies revolutionising transportation, today announced a multiyear strategic partnership to bring Cruise autonomous vehicles to the Uber platform.”
Earlier this week Cruise had been handed some good news after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it was halting its investigation into a sudden braking issue, with Cruise recalling 1,200 vehicles over the issue.
Image credit: Cruise
Cruise and Uber
However the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission investigation after an accident last October in which one of its robotaxis struck and dragged a female pedestrian, still continues.
Now Cruise has said that it and Uber 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,” the firms announced.
“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.”
“As the largest mobility and delivery platform, we believe Uber can play an important role in helping to safely and reliably introduce autonomous technology to consumers and cities around the world,” added Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber CEO. “We’re thrilled to partner with Cruise and look forward to launching next year.”
Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi. Image credit: Uber
It should be noted that Uber has already been offering driverless cars in Phoenix on its platform since October 2023, thanks to a partnership with Alphabet’s Waymo.
Waymo competition
The arrival of Cruise vehicles on Uber comes amid increasing competition in the autonomous driving market.
At the moment, Alphabet’s Waymo is currently the only commercial robotaxi service operating in the United States.
This increase was helped after the firm had expanded its Waymo One service in in both Los Angeles and San Francisco, citing customer demand as the reason.
Companies such as Uber and Lyft have previously halted their own inhouse robotaxi development activities. Indeed, Uber sold its own self-driving division in 2020 to reduce spending and refocus on its core business, namely ride hailing and food delivery.
Elon Musk meanwhile promised for years to offer a robotaxi service, but has yet to produce a vehicle capable of serving as a robotaxi. That said, Tesla plans to unveil its CyberCab, or dedicated robotaxi in October this year.