Cruise will begin rolling out its autonomous vehicles after major upheaval last year that led to a pause in its operations, the loss of its chief executive and the layoff of a large portion of its workforce, including several executives. in a blog post on your website, the GM subsidiary said it is resuming its manual driving activities to collect road information and create maps for its autonomous vehicles. The first fleet of Cruise vehicles to hit the road again will be deployed in Phoenix, Arizona, although the company plans to expand to other cities as it continues to “engage with officials and community leaders.”
If you recall, Cruise suspended all of its driverless operations a few weeks after an incident in California, in which one of its robotaxis hit and dragged a pedestrian who was thrown into its path after being hit by another vehicle. Both the California DMV and the California Public Utilities Commission revoked their licenses to operate in the state due to that incident and other safety-related issues. In November last year, Cruise also suspended manned robotaxi rides as part of an expanded safety investigation by an independent consulting firm.
Kyle Vogt, the company's co-founder and CEO, resigned shortly after. The company also fired nine key executives following an allegation by authorities that Cruise withheld video showing the victim of the California incident trapped under her vehicle. In December, the robotaxis manufacturer laid off 24 percent of its workforce, or about 900 people. The interception It also reported last year that it saw internal safety evaluation materials that concluded Cruise vehicles had trouble recognizing children.
Cruise said in his post that he has been testing in closed fields for the past few months as he works to rebuild trust. All robotaxis headed to Phoenix will be human-driven vehicles without autonomous systems activated. Its ultimate goal, of course, is to deploy fully autonomous vehicles again, but the company didn't say if it has a target date or share a timeline if it does.
