GM’s Cruise to relaunch vehicles with human drivers in Phoenix

General
Motors’
Cruise
self-driving
vehicle
unit
will
redeploy
cars
on
U.S.
roadways
Tuesday
for
the
first
time
since
October,
beginning
with
a
small
fleet
of
human-driven
vehicles
in
Phoenix,
the

company
said.

The
relaunch
comes
after
the
company

ceased
operations
weeks
after
an
Oct.
2
accident
in
which
a
pedestrian
in
San
Francisco
was
dragged
20
feet
by
a
Cruise
robotaxi
after
being
struck
by
a
separate
vehicle.

The
redeployed
vehicles
will
not
operate
as
they
previously
did
—
as
robotaxis
—
but
will “create
maps
and
gather
road
information
in
select
cities,
starting
in
Phoenix,”
the
company
said.

Cruise
said
its “goal
is
to
resume
driverless
operations,”
however
it
did
not
provide
a
timeline
for
doing
so.
It
also
did
not
announce
a
timetable
for
expanding
human-driven
vehicles
to
other
cities.

“We
have
not
yet
made
a
commitment
to
where
or
when
we
will
start
supervised
or
driverless
operations,”
a
spokesperson
said
in
a
statement
to
CNBC.

Still,
the
company
called
the
relaunched
fleet
with
human
drivers “a
critical
step
for
validating
our
self-driving
systems
as
we
work
towards
returning
to
our
driverless
mission.”

“In
October
2023,
we
paused
operations
of
our
fleet
to
focus
on
rebuilding
trust
with
regulators
and
the
communities
we
serve,
and
to
redesign
our
approach
to
safety,”

Cruise
said
in
a
blog
post. “We’ve
made
significant
progress,
guided
by
new
company
leadership,
recommendations
from
third-party
experts,
and
a
focus
on
a
close
partnership
with
the
communities
in
which
our
vehicles
operate.
We
are
committed
to
this
improvement
as
a
continuous
effort.”

A
third-party
probe
into
the
October
incident
and
subsequent
fallout,
which
was
ordered
by
GM
and
Cruise,

found
culture
issues,
ineptitude
and
poor
leadership
were
at
the
center
of
regulatory
oversights that
led
to
the
accident.
The
probe
also
investigated
allegations
of
a
coverup
by
Cruise
leadership,
but
did
not
find
any
evidence
to
support
those
claims.

Cruise
said
in
January
that
it “accepts”
the
conclusions
found
in
the
report.
The
San
Francisco-based
company, of
which
GM
owns
about
80%,
said
it
will “act
on
all”
recommendations
and
is “fully
cooperating”
with
investigations
by
state
and
federal
agencies
following
the
Oct.
2
accident.

The
company
said
in
January
that
investigations
or
inquiries
into
the
incident
included
those
by
the
California
DMV,
the
California
Public
Utilities
Commission,
the
National
Highway
Traffic
Safety
Administration,
the
U.S.
Department
of
Justice
and
the
Securities
and
Exchange
Commission.

Prior
to
the
accident,
Cruise
was
planning
an
aggressive
expansion
of
robotaxis
outside
its
home
market
where
the
majority
of
its
vehicles
operated.

In
addition
to
the
ceasing
of
operations,
Cruise
leadership
has
been
gutted:
Its
co-founders,
including
CEO
and
co-founder

Kyle
Vogt,
resigned
and
nine
other
leaders
were
ousted.
The
venture
also laid
off
24%
of
its
workforce
as
well
as
a
round
of
contractors.