A cruise vehicle in San Francisco on February 2, 2022.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
General engines' The self-driving cruise unit will redeploy cars to U.S. roads for the first time since October, starting with a small fleet of human-powered vehicles in Phoenix, the company said Tuesday.
The restart comes after the company halted operations weeks after an Oct. 2 accident in which a San Francisco pedestrian was dragged 20 feet by a Cruise robotaxi after being struck by a separate vehicle.
The re-deployable vehicles will no longer operate as before – as robotaxis – but will “create maps and collect road information in select cities, starting in Phoenix,” the company said.
Cruise said the “goal is to resume driverless operations” but did not provide a timeline for this. No timetable was also given for the expansion of human-powered vehicles to other cities.
The company called the relaunched fleet with human drivers “a critical step in validating our self-driving systems as we work to return to our driverless mission.”
“In October 2023, we suspended operations of our fleet to focus on rebuilding trust with regulators and the communities we serve and reimagining our approach to safety,” Cruise said in a blog post. “We have made significant progress, guided by new company leadership, recommendations from outside experts and a focus on working closely with the communities in which our vehicles operate. We are committed to this improvement as an ongoing effort.”
A third-party investigation into the October incident and subsequent fallout, ordered by GM and Cruise, found that culture issues, incompetence and poor leadership were central to the regulatory oversight that led to the accident. The investigation also investigated allegations of a cover-up by Cruise's leadership, but found no evidence to support these claims.
Cruise said in January that it “accepts” the report's conclusions. The San Francisco-based company, of which GM owns about 80%, said it will “follow all recommendations” and “fully cooperate” with investigations by state and federal agencies following the Oct. 2 accident.
The company said in January that investigations or investigations into the incident include those by the California DMV, California Public Utilities Commission, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Prior to the accident, Cruise was planning an aggressive expansion of robotaxis beyond its home market, where the majority of its vehicles operated.
In addition to the shutdown, Cruise's leadership has been gutted: its co-founders, including CEO and co-founder Kyle Vogt, resigned and nine other leaders were ousted. And the company laid off 24% of its workforce, as well as a series of contractors.
