Robotaxi Leaders Cruise & Waymo Reveal New Services & Deals

In the last year, autonomous vehicle company Cruise witnessed numerous incidents questioning the safety of its driverless cars, leading to strict measures against the company, including personnel changes and a CEO resignation.

Since then, the company has worked its way back to return to the streets of San Francisco and other cities in the United States.

On the other hand, Cruise’s rival Waymo has expanded its services across the country.

Now, both companies have come forth with some exciting updates, which include a new partnership with Uber for Cruise and a new self-driving vehicle system with enhanced capabilities for Waymo.

So, what did Cruise reveal about its deal with Uber? Let’s explore!
 

What Is Cruise’s Partnership With Uber About?

 

• Through a news release published on its website, Cruise announced that it has signed a multiyear strategic partnership with Uber to bring its vehicles onto the ride-booking platform’s app.

• As per the plan, the company will bring a dedicated number of Chevy Bolt-based autonomous vehicles to Uber’s platform.

• Upon launching, users booking qualifying rides on Uber will be presented with the opportunity to access a Cruise autonomous vehicle.

 

What Did Cruise And Uber Executives Say?

 

• Marc Whitten, CEO of Cruise, said, “Cruise is on a mission to leverage driverless technology to create safer streets and redefine urban life. We are excited to partner with Uber to bring the benefits of safe, reliable, autonomous driving to even more people, unlocking a new era of urban mobility.”

• Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber CEO, said, “As the largest mobility and delivery platform, we believe Uber can play an important role in helping to safely and reliably introduce autonomous technology to consumers and cities around the world. We’re thrilled to partner with Cruise and look forward to launching next year.”

 

What Else Did Cruise Announce?

 

• The move comes on the same day the company agreed to recall around 1,200 vehicles following an investigation into the safety of their autonomous driving systems.

• The investigation, which began in December 2022, focused on hard braking issues after reports of two injuries in three rear-end crashes.

• As per a Safety Recall Report filed by the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration), the remedy included new software updates made through 2023 and Cruise pausing its operations.

• “These software updates improved components in several systems of the ADS including perception, prediction and planning.”

• Following Cruise’s decision to issue recalls, the NHTSA agreed to close its investigation.

• However, this move doesn’t affect the status of a separate investigation the regulatory agency opened against Cruise into whether the autonomous vehicle company was taking adequate steps to safeguard pedestrians.

• On the back of numerous incidents including having its permit suspended and almost replacing its entire management team, Cruise’s parent company, General Motors, announced that it would cut spending on the Cruise robotaxi unit by $1 billion in 2024.

• However, the company was soon eyeing a return to plying its robotaxi service.

 

What’s New With Waymo?

 

• Through a blog post published on its website, Waymo announced the launch of its new driverless vehicle, the 6th-generation Waymo Driver.

• As the company designs its hardware and software from the ground up, the company was able to significantly reduce the cost of its 6th-generation system.

• This also allowed it to deliver more resolution, range, compute power and capabilities through the upgraded system.

• The vehicle comes with 13 cameras, 4 lidar, 6 radar and numerous external audio receivers (EARs), its new sensor suite, which is optimized for greater performance at lower costs.

• “It provides the Waymo Driver with overlapping fields of view, all around the vehicle, up to 500 meters away, day and night, and in a range of weather conditions.”

• The system allows the company to operate its driverless cars in extreme heat, fog, rain and hail while ensuring robust safety features and reliable service to riders.

• The Waymo Driver system also possesses the ability to learn from the collective experiences gathered across its fleet.

• Through the blog post, Satish Jeyachandran, Vice President of Engineering at Waymo said, “Waymo’s approach of designing both hardware and software from the ground up has been crucial to our success, and it continues to pay off as we introduce our 6th-generation hardware.”

• “Our 6th-gen system builds on the unparalleled capabilities of our current, 5th-generation system, which has been instrumental to helping Waymo scale our service to some of the densest cities in the United States and improving road safety where we operate.”

Do you think Cruise’s deal with Uber will provide it with an edge over its competitors or will rival Waymo’s new fully autonomous vehicle help it beat Cruise?

Let us know in the comments below!