Cruise, which is owned by General Motors, has announced it will soon begin testing its autonomous electric robotaxi, the Origin, on public roads in Austin, Texas.
During a speech at the SXSW event this week, CEO Kyle Vogt said that the company would begin testing the vehicle in Austin in the coming weeks. The robotaxi will not be available to the public just yet however, as the vehicles will first be tested with employees.
If you are anxious to take a ride in an Origin, which was first unveiled in 2020, you won’t have to wait long as they will become available to customers in the near future, possibly in a “matter of months,” according to Vogt. (via TechCrunch)
The first Origin vehicles have been manufactured in GM’s Factory Zero in Michigan, and the company plans to launch commercial robotaxi services in Austin and Phoenix later this year. You might confuse it with the Zoox robotaxi, but the Cruise Origin is a product of a joint venture between GM and Honda, and is designed for ride-sharing services.
Like the Zoox robotaxi the Cruise Origin is a bidirectional shuttle-like vehicle with no steering wheel or pedals, and can travel at highway speeds.
Crusie recently celebrated crossing 1 million miles of autonomous driving. According to documentation filed with the California DMV, Cruise had about 30 cars at the beginning of 2022, but that number had increased to 100 by September. It plans to add 5,000 more.
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