Uber teams up with Cruise for robotaxi rides

Uber and autonomous car specialist Cruise are teaming up to offer robotaxi rides starting as early as next year.

Ridesharing giant Uber announced the multiyear partnership on Thursday, saying it will use Cruise’s modified Chevy Bolt vehicles for the service.

When launched, the Uber app will offer riders the option of taking their trip in a Cruise autonomous vehicle if they’re in an area where the robotaxis are operating, or they can simply select a vehicle driven by a human.

“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,” Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber of CEO, said in a release.

Marc Whitten, CEO of Cruise, said his company is “on a mission to leverage driverless technology to create safer streets and redefine urban life. 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.”

The move comes as General Motors-owned Cruise attempts to bounce back from a series of setbacks last year, the most troubling of which involved one of its driverless cars running over a pedestrian in San Francisco just after she’d been struck by a human-driven car.

The woman survived the incident, but it prompted California to suspend Cruise’s operating permit in the state, which quickly led to Cruise halting its robotaxi testing across the country. The company suffered further disruption when its CEO and founder, Kyle Vogt, resigned in the wake of the San Francisco incident.

In a cautious return that began in April, a small number of Cruise’s autonomous cars were redeployed on public roads in Phoenix, Dallas, and Houston, which is where we might expect to see the first robotaxi rides offered by Uber and Cruise.

Uber itself once had ambitions to develop its own robotaxi, but following a tragedy in 2018 in which one of its test vehicles struck and killed a pedestrian in Arizona, the company suspended testing and eventually closed down its autonomous unit.

Instead, it’s now looking to partner with those continuing to develop the technology. Besides Cruise, Uber also signed a similar partnership with Waymo last year to bring robotaxi rides and autonomous food delivery to Uber users in Arizona.