Author: TechCrunch

Cruise, the self-driving subsidiary of General Motors, said Monday it has begun manual data collection in Seattle and Washington, DC, step one toward launching business services within the cities. Data collection involves manually driving a robotaxi around to grab information on the local driving environment and climate. The subsequent step shall be mapping the brand new cities. The move to expand operations to 2 cities on opposite coasts comes as pressure mounts for the robotaxi company in its hometown of San Francisco. Cruise, together with its competitor Alphabet-owned Waymo, secured permits in mid-August from California regulators to expand their business, fully…