Cruise

Alphabet Inc.’s autonomous driving unit Waymo is looking to expand its driverless robotaxi service in Los Angeles, where it is currently testing rides. Although, in light of the fallout from Cruise, it might not be smooth sailing.

The fallout from robotaxi company Cruise continues, as now General Motors has just filed a lawsuit against San Francisco for $121 million in what it calls unfair taxes and penalties since it acquired Cruise. GM argues that San Francisco charged the company an inflated tax rate because it factored in its Cruise self-driving car division, which GM says is a separate entity.

It’s gone from bad to worse for robotaxi company Cruise in the fallout of the October incident involving a pedestrian. The company has now announced it is laying off 900 workers, one day after firing nine executives. Meanwhile, rival company Waymo pulls out ahead with new services.

General Motors has fired “nine key people” at robotaxi company Cruise amid the fallout from an accident involving a pedestrian in San Francisco. The incident – and the uncovered details that have dealt a massive blow to an industry that relies on trust from the public and regulators – has already forced the company’s founder and CEO Kyle Vogt to resign.

Amid the fallout from the accident involving a pedestrian in San Francisco, robotaxi company Cruise cofounder Kyle Vogt has stepped down from his role as CEO. 

The news has been epically bad for Cruise robotaxis these past few weeks. GM’s driverless car subsidiary has announced a round of layoffs this week, with the CEO Kyle Vogt reportedly telling employees in an all-hands meeting. Plus, investigations have dredged up some incriminating news that the software’s algorithm had trouble detecting children.

GM’s Cruise autonomous taxi service is pausing driverless operations everywhere after having it’s license suspended in California on Tuesday.

Cruise’s license to operate autonomous vehicles in the state of California has been suspended effective immediately, announced the California Department of Motor Vehicles today.

Update: Cruise has now voluntarily paused driverless operations everywhere.

A press release from Cruise, GM, and Honda says that the three companies plan to launch a robotaxi joint venture in Japan starting in 2026. No word if the vehicles will play charming little MIDI tunes when they pick you up, but we can dream.

GM-owned robotaxi service Cruise continues to expand its reach of driverless rides throughout the US, announcing a start of services in Houston – its fourth major city. Houston locals can now join the waitlist to take a spin in one of Cruise’s EVs, see below.

Cruise’s fully autonomous robotaxis recently contributed to some annoying road congestion in the streets of Austin, as captured by a video you can see below. The footage comes at a somewhat turbulent time for the self-driving rideshare company, as its vehicles are catching some opposition from residents in the cities they operate in. As is with most cases, there’s more to the story here, which appears to be a perfect example of an EV being at the wrong place at the wrong time… except in this case, it was a large chunk of Cruise’s Austin fleet…

A select group of protestors in the San Francisco Bay area are demobilizing robotaxi EVs operated by companies like Waymo and Cruise by placing orange construction cones over their sensors. While opposition to this technology has been present in small doses for years, the resistance against autonomous vehicles has recently gotten more press following a recent vote to expand the services in California. Is this a fear of autonomy or just a fear of change in general?

According to a recent post from its CEO, robotaxi operator Cruise is now operating nonstop operations in San Francisco. The post said we will see full Cruise robotaxi operations open up to other cities, which may soon include Dallas, Texas – according to a recent company job posting.

GM’s self-driving rideshare unit, Cruise, has applied for permission to expand testing of its robotaxi rides throughout all of California. The autonomous driving specialist has already been testing rides for over a year in different cities across three states including San Francisco, but hopes to expand further throughout The Golden State.

Robotaxi developer Waymo announced that this past January, it surpassed 1 million miles of autonomous driving with no human present in the vehicle. Waymo competitor Cruise also recently reached the autonomous milestone, but Waymo has also publicly shared the data to back up its progress. As previously teased last year, Waymo is also now officially testing driverless rides in Los Angeles.

GM’s Cruise autonomous taxi service has started taking driverless taxi rides in downtown Austin, Texas. It’s a shot across the bow of Tesla, now headquartered just outside of Austin, which has been promising self-driving robotaxis for years now, but keeps pushing them back.

A report filed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) this week has opened another investigation into GM’s robotaxi company Cruise. According to the filing, the NHTSA has received multiple reports of Cruise’s autonomous EVs blocking roadways and stopping abruptly, causing accidents with other drivers on roads.

General Motors’ self-driving rideshare service Cruise announced that it has recalled 80 of its electric robotaxis in order to update their software following an accident in June that injured two people. The NHTSA stated that the software issue caused the self-driving Cruise vehicles to “incorrectly predict” oncoming vehicle’s paths, adding risk for collisions.

As we roll along in the third quarter of 2022, GM’s long-promised EV lineup is beginning to materialize and gain some serious momentum. The American automaker now has several EVs on the market and has even more in its production pipeline. In recent media appearances, CEO Mary Barra has relayed confidence in GM’s autonomous technology and has reiterated the company’s goal to usurp Tesla as the leader in EV production. Can GM pull it off?

We need an electric Camaro just to keep up with the news cycle over at General Motors (GM). Following its annual and Q4 earnings report, GM has shared further news about its electrification strategy which includes updates to already announced EVs, as well as hints to a new one.

Autonomous rideshare startup Waymo has announced an additional $2.5 billion investment round of funding. Waymo plans to use the additional funding, led by parent company Alphabet Inc., to hire more staff and advance its self-driving technology toward more paid rides.