Cruise, the self-driving unit of General Motors, plans to relaunch its driverless taxi service in an unspecified city and then expand to other cities.
Cruise had previously banned the company’s self-driving vehicles from driving on public roads after an accident on October 2 in which one of its self-driving taxis dragged a pedestrian.
“We need to take steps to improve our safety metrics and rebuild trust, and our strategy is to re-launch in a city and prove our performance there before expanding,” the company said.
Cruise said the strategic shift will result in a reduction in its headcount “primarily in non-engineering positions.” It also said it would provide more details in mid-December.
The department said it will focus on Bolt-based Cruise AVs in the short term, while its long-term strategy revolves around the Origin, a vehicle without a steering wheel or other operations by a human driver.
Attached is the incident:
In August this year, ten Cruise Robotaxi vehicles suddenly stalled on the road, causing a traffic jam. A few days later, a Robotaxi crashed into a road construction area and got stuck in the wet concrete; another Robotaxi hit a fire truck at an intersection, causing its passengers to be sent to the hospital.
The California Department of Motor Vehicles announced on October 25 that Cruise's self-driving cars pose an "unreasonable risk" to public safety and "fail to meet standards for on-road operations."
Cruise has suspended all public operations of its self-driving cars and will issue a recall for 950 vehicles.
Cruise is facing multiple federal investigations into the safety of its vehicles, including two cases in which its self-driving cars failed to yield to pedestrians on sidewalks.
On November 20, Cruise co-founder and CEO Kyle Vogt announced his resignation.