General Motors’ robotaxi company Cruise will soon offer its services throughout San Francisco, instead of just a few parts of the city and especially at night. co-founder and boss Kyle Vogt announced on Twitterthat Cruise soon wants to start offering robotaxi “in other cities”. The software developed through years of testing in San Francisco has also proven itself there.
The competitor is called Waymo
General Motors took over the start-up Cruise in 2016. Since then, the car company and other investors have invested billions in the development. In San Francisco, Cruise is competing with the Google company Waymo, which emerged from the Internet group’s robot car program.
The expansion to the entire metropolitan area of San Francisco will proceed gradually. Cruise employees will initially be able to book trips anywhere around the clock. So far, the service has only been available to the public to a limited extent, and it will remain so for the time being. For frequent users of the service, robotic taxis should only be available throughout the city at night. During the day they will be able to book rides in much of San Francisco. At the end of 2020, Cruise received permission to operate the robotaxis without a safety driver.
New Fleet
Cruise has so far used converted Chevrolet Bolt electric cars (test of the identical Opel Ampera), but wants to switch to a Janus-headed robotaxi vehicle developed in cooperation with Honda called “Origin” without a steering wheel and pedals.
(fpi)