The General Motors robotaxi unit, Cruise, announced it will expand to the Houston and Dallas metro areas in Texas in the coming weeks.
Autonomous driving technology is quickly becoming a top development priority for many automakers. GM’s autonomous driving unit, Cruise, not only operates as an in-house testing lab for its upcoming technology, but also as a standalone robotaxi operator, which hopes to take the ride-hailing sector by storm.
The announcement of the service expansion was made May 10 by the Cruise CEO on Twitter. It should be noted due to regulatory hurdles, robotaxis, for the time being, will need to have human operators watch over the driving until Cruise can receive the appropriate licensing.
According to the Cruise website, the robotaxi operator already serves three metro areas, including San Francisco, Austin and Phoenix, though San Francisco remains its top market.
Despite Cruise establishing itself so quickly in the heart of Silicon Valley, it has not exactly been accepted by the local community and government leaders. City officials in San Francisco have recently slowed their adoption of the service after numerous safety issues plagued the company’s service, including one Cruise vehicle running into a public bus and two other Cruise vehicles getting trapped within an area with downed electric lines.
With GM growing the operating area of Cruise, it helps the autonomous vehicle wing work toward profitability and increases the number of testing environments it has access to. Cruise has long been a top incubator for autonomous technology for GM, and with these service expansions, it will be able to deliver more breakthroughs than ever.
