Uber and the GM-owned autonomous vehicle company Cruise are partnering together to bring the robotaxis to the Uber platform, according to a press release.
The companies plan to launch the multiyear partnership next year with a set number of autonomous vehicles. Once the robotaxis are available, when an Uber rider requests a qualifying ride within the Uber app, they may see the option to have that trip fulfilled by an AV.
“We are excited to partner with Uber to bring the benefits of safe, reliable, autonomous driving to even more people, unlocking a new era of urban mobility,” Cruise CEO Marc Whitten said in the press release.
Uber, which abandoned its self-driving unit in 2020, has been focusing on partnerships to bring its autonomous missions to life.
“As the largest mobility and delivery platform, we believe Uber can play an important role in helping to safely and reliably introduce autonomous technology to consumers and cities around the world,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in the press release.
The partnership is a positive sign for the troubled Cruise, which pulled all its AVs off the roads last year after one of its vehicles hit and subsequently dragged a pedestrian in San Francisco. (Since then, Cruise has brought back supervised driving in three cities.) Just this week, Cruise agreed to recall its entire fleet of robotaxis in order to to resolve a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigation into alleged unexpected braking.