Cruise, the autonomous vehicle (AV) subsidiary of General Motors, has announced it plans to resume manual driving operations as a first step step towards reinstating its driverless service.
This decision comes after the company reviewed its safety protocols and community engagement practices, following an incident last year that left a pedestrian with serious injuries.
Cruise has been developing its self-driving technology since it was founded in 2013, providing hundreds of thousands of autonomous trips across various cities including San Francisco, Phoenix, Austin, and Houston in recent years. However, in October 2023, the company paused its fleet operations following incidents that raised questions about the safety of their autonomous vehicles.
Under new leadership and with advice from third-party experts, Cruise embarked on a comprehensive strategy to enhance its safety protocols and strengthen its engagement with community leaders and officials. A significant aspect of this strategy is the resumption of manual driving operations in select cities, starting with Phoenix.
Eventually Cruise hopes to resume driverless operations, but in the meantime will start manual driver operations with the goal of collecting accurate and up-to-date location data in Phoenix. This is followed by validation of the AV’s performance against the company’s safety and performance criteria through supervised autonomous driving.
