Cruise, the branch of General Motors, among others, that deals with autonomous driving, is taking a big step in San Francisco. Cruise is now actually allowed on the street without a driver for the first time.
This makes Cruise the first company in San Francisco to receive a permit for driverless road tests. Similar permits have previously been issued to Waymo (Alhabet, 2018) and four other companies, but never for San Francisco itself or another large city.
Anyone who has been to San Francisco in recent years (when that was still allowed) will certainly recognize Cruise’s Chevrolet Bolts. Cruise has been testing a fleet of these experimental vehicles for years. Until now, someone was always present to intervene in an emergency, but from now on 5 of the 180 Bolts can be sent onto the street without a driver.
With Silicon Valley in its backyard, San Francisco is a logical and widely used basis for these kinds of tests. The ultimate goal of Cruise is – of course – an autonomous taxi fleet, plus the development of self-driving cars that are also suitable for consumers.
Although the company is now taking a big step, Cruise Automation is lagging behind on its own schedule. The goal was initially to realize an autonomous taxi fleet by 2019. Not only did this not succeed, but it also takes a while to take that step.
Accident
Part of the delay may be due to the accident that happened in March 2018 with a similar test vehicle from competitor Uber. The test XC90 hit a pedestrian there, who did not survive. It happened in Arizona, but it prompted several autonomous car developers and governments to take another good look at things.
A Bolt test car without a steering wheel, the Cruise AV, was also presented in 2018. This year followed the Cruise Origin, which was developed as an autonomous vehicle from the start.
In addition to General Motors, Honda is also involved in Cruise.