Uber plans to provide driverless rides to users as early as next year
Uber is preparing to roll out driverless rides next year through a new partnership with General Motors and its autonomous vehicle unit, Cruise. The companies have signed a multi-year contract to bring this innovation to Uber’s platform.
Cruise, owned by GM, will be working with Uber to deploy autonomous rides using Chevy Bolt vehicles. Once the service launches, Uber users will have the option to select a Cruise car directly from the app for their rides.
Marc Whitten, CEO of Cruise, expressed enthusiasm about the partnership, stating, “Cruise is on a mission to use driverless technology to make streets safer and transform urban life. We’re thrilled to work with Uber to make safe, reliable, autonomous driving available to more people, marking a new era in urban mobility.”
While Cruise has not yet detailed how or when the driverless cars will be rolled out, this development is a significant step in the driverless vehicle industry. Cruise has been working to revive its business after halting operations following an incident where a pedestrian was dragged by one of its vehicles after being struck by another car.
This comes as Uber faces its own challenges. The company had previously attempted to introduce self-driving cars but had to abandon those plans after a tragic incident in 2018, when a woman riding a bicycle in Tempe, Arizona was killed by one of Uber’s autonomous vehicles.
In the meantime, competitors like Waymo are already making strides. Waymo is currently providing 100,000 paid rides in San Francisco, Phoenix, and Los Angeles and is exploring expansion into Austin, Texas, according to CNBC.
