Cruise & Uber Partner for Autonomous Robotaxis

GM's "Cruise" autonomous driverless robotaxi company has agreed to a deal with Uber.Photo byPhoto by Cruise via www.cnbc.com website

The autonomous vehicle company owned by General Motors' is going in a different and more aggressive direction. In a surprising move, GM's autonomous vehicle company, Cruise,” is partnering with Uber to bring robotaxis into their company and into San Francisco.

On Uber's website, they called it a multiyear strategic partnership to bring Cruise autonomous vehicles to the Uber platform. Uber said it's going to be launched next year using Cruise's fleet of Chevy Bolts as autonomous vehicles. A Cruise spokesperson said that the company’s focus “remains on relaunching our own driverless app and service; the launch of this partnership will follow that.”

The merger is important for Cruise because, at this time, they are not allowed to do paid driverless rides in the State of California due to a previous incident. Last October, one of their robots struck and dragged a Jaywalker about 20 feet. The suspension was initiated when the California Public Utilities Commission and Department of Motor Vehicles said that Cruise did not disclose the entire incident.