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 driverless robotaxi services across San Francisco 24/7.
Within the week that followed, Cruise vehicles were involved in a series of incidents, including 10 robotaxis stalling and causing gridlock, a vehicle that drove into wet cement, and a crash with a hearth truck that left a passenger injured. Consequently, the California Department of Motor Vehicles requested that Cruise immediately reduce its robotaxi fleet by 50% in San Francisco while it conducts an investigation into the corporate.
Despite these issues, Cruise is doggedly moving forward with its expansion plans. The corporate in 2021 said it plans to have “tens of 1000’s” of Cruise Origins, Cruise’s yet-to-be-deployed purpose-built AV, on roads in major U.S. cities in the approaching years. The U.S. Department of Transportation has still yet to approve
“We’re pipelining our deployment playbook across several cities concurrently now,” tweeted Cruise founder and CEO Kyle Vogt.
Seattle is the northernmost city that Cruise has approached. Most autonomous vehicle firms have stuck to testing along the sun belt or in cities with mild weather. Inclement weather like rain or snow can affect the flexibility of sensors, like lidar, radar and cameras, to accurately perceive the environment and make secure driving decisions. As a rainy city with loads of hills, Seattle will present a novel challenge for Cruise’s self-driving system.
Before the corporate can begin testing in Seattle, it’ll must secure a permit from the Seattle Department of Transportation under the agency’s Autonomous Vehicle Testing Permit program. Amazon’s Zoox and Nvidia each hold AV permits from Seattle, which require a human driver within the vehicle to watch and take over the vehicle as needed. Cruise has not confirmed whether it has already applied for a Seattle AV permit.
Nor has the corporate confirmed its application for a driverless testing permit in Washington, DC.
Seattle and DC are two out of 15 total cities during which Cruise is either mapping, testing or deploying its self-driving cars. Cruise’s formula for rollouts typically starts with entering a brand new market with test vehicles to gather data and map, followed by AV testing with a human driver within the front seat. Eventually, Cruise drops the human driver and tests the vehicles autonomously. A ride-hailing service will then change into available first to employees after which to customers who’ve signed up for the service. The service area and hours of operation normally start on a limited basis, often at night, and slowly expand.
Here’s a transient rundown of Cruise’s footprint to date:
Atlanta, Georgia
In August, Cruise began initial testing of its self-driving vehicles in Atlanta.
The corporate didn’t provide many details in its post on X, the positioning formerly generally known as Twitter, stating only “more to come back.”
California: San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego
Apart from San Francisco, where Cruise offers a full business robotaxi service citywide, the AV company has begun data collection and mapping in Los Angeles and San Diego.
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Cruise began mapping Dubai in July 2022 in preparation for a planned launch in 2023. The corporate said it hopes to place Cruise Origins on Dubai’s streets this yr. Dubai’s RTA confirmed in April that Cruise has several autonomous Chevy Bolts — at the very least five could be seen in one video — collecting data and testing within the Jumeirah 1 area, a residential area on the coast.
Miami, Florida
Cruise announced in July that it had begun initial testing and data collection in Miami.
“Phase 1 is to familiarize our fleet with additional, diverse road conditions while collecting data,” the corporate said on the time in a tweet.
Nashville, Tennessee
In late July, Cruise announced plans to expand its robotaxi service to Nashville. The corporate has not shared details as to when it should launch there.
North Carolina: Charlotte and Raleigh
Last week, Cruise finished its preliminary testing of driverless cars in Charlotte and commenced initial tests in Raleigh.
Phoenix, Arizona
Cruise first soft-launched its robotaxi service in Chandler, a city southeast of Phoenix, in December 2022. In early August, the corporate expanded its radius within the Phoenix area by 20x to incorporate Tempe and Scottsdale. The free service is on the market from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. for “power users” initially, after which will roll out to members of most of the people.
Texas: Austin, Houston and Dallas
At the tip of 2022, Cruise began testing its vehicles in Austin. The corporate currently offers a free driverless service in downtown and central Austin, including the University of Texas campus, from 9 p.m. to five a.m. The corporate said in March it might begin testing its Origins in the town inside the coming weeks but has not confirmed if it has done so.
Cruise also began supervised testing of AVs in Houston and Dallas in May, meaning testing with a human safety driver within the automobile. The corporate says it’s on course to start a driverless ride-hail service for members of the general public “soon.”
This Article First Appeared At www.autoblog.com
