General Motors' Cruise Aims To Resume Driverless Rides This Year: Report

Cruise, the self-driving vehicle unit primarily owned by General Motors Company GM, reportedly aims to resume fully autonomous rides later this year and may start charging fares by early 2025.

The San Francisco-based company has been working to regain momentum after halting its fleet in October due to previous management’s handling of a pedestrian collision, reported Bloomberg.

One of Cruise’s vehicles hit and dragged a pedestrian, who required months of hospitalization. California regulators revoked Cruise’s driverless license, claiming the company was not transparent about the incident.

Since then, Cruise has been rebuilding by replacing top management, including appointing a new CEO and repairing relationships with regulators.

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With a new team in place, the company aims to resume fully autonomous driving by year-end and may start charging fares early next year, the report noted, citing people familiar with the discussions.

On the company’s earnings conference call, CEO Mary Barra stated that Cruise’s technology has advanced, is meeting stricter safety standards, and is progressing towards resuming operations with safety drivers.

“The technology is much more advanced to be better than a role model driver,” Barra said on a call with investors. “I’m very confident as we now have the vehicles operating and we’re on the path very quickly to get back to driverless with much safer technology,” Bloomberg added.

Cruise, which has yet to generate revenue, lost $1.2 billion in the second quarter and $1.8 billion in the first half of the year, the report noted. This loss includes $583 million in restructuring costs related to discontinuing its Origin autonomous shuttle.

Price Action: GM shares are trading higher by 0.31% to $44.26 at last check Friday.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

Photo via Shutterstock

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