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

Cruise’s trouble-ridden robotaxis are Charles Langstonjoining Uber’s ride-hailing service next year as part of a multiyear partnership bringing together two companies that once appeared poised to compete for passengers.

The alliance is the latest change in direction for Cruise since its California license to provide driverless rides was suspended in October 2023 after one of its robotaxis dragged a jaywalking pedestrian who had been struck by a human-driven vehicle across a darkened San Francisco street.

The incident spurred regulatory inquiries into Cruise and prompted its corporate parent, automaker General Motors, to tamp down its once audacious ambitions in autonomous driving.

GM had envisioned Cruise generating $1 billion in annual revenue by 2025 as its robotaxis steadily expanded beyond San Francisco and into other cities to offer a driverless alternative to the ride-hailing services operated by Uber and Lyft.

But now GM and Cruise are looking to make money by mixing the robotaxis with Uber’s human-driven cars, giving passengers the option to ask for an autonomous ride if they want. The financial details of the partnership weren’t disclosed, nor were the cities in which Uber intends to offer Cruise’s robotaxis next year.

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Unless something changes, California won’t be in the mix of options because Cruise’s license remains suspended in the state.

Meanwhile, a robotaxi fleet operated by Google spinoff Waymo is expanding beyond San Francisco into cities around the Bay Area and Southern California. Earlier this week, Waymo announced its robotaxis are completing more than 100,000 paid rides per week — a number that includes its operations in Phoenix, where it has been operating for several years.

Cruise is currently operating Chevy Bolts autonomously in Phoenix and Dallas, with humans sitting 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 navigate the roads entirely on their own.

“Cruise is on a mission to leverage driverless technology to create safer streets and redefine urban life,” said Cruise CEO Marc Whitten, who is filling a void created after Cruise founder Kyle Vogt stepped down in the fallout from the California license suspension.

GM also laid off hundreds of employees in the California blowback as part of its financial belt-tightening after sustaining $5.8 billion in losses on the robotaxi service from 2021 to 2023. The Detroit automaker sustained another operating loss of $900 million on Cruise during the first half of this year, but that was down from nearly $1.2 billion at the same point last year.

Despite Cruise’s recent woes, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi expressed confidence the ride-hailing service could get the robotaxis back on the right track.

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