AUSTIN, Texas — Your next Uber ride in Austin may not have a driver.
While self-driving car company Cruise has yet to resume operations in Austin, supervised autonomous driving has resumed in Houston and Dallas. Now, a multiyear partnership between Cruise and Uber, beginning next year, hopes to shake up the rideshare industry.
It's the latest shift for Cruise since its license was suspended in California after one of its vehicles dragged a jaywalking pedestrian after the person was hit by a human-driven vehicle on a darkened street. The incident led to inquiries about Cruise and its corporate parent General Motors.
General Motors envisioned Cruise generating $1 billion in annual revenue as an alternative to Uber and Lyft. Now it hopes to mix its vehicles into Uber's fleet by letting customers choose if they want an autonomous ride.
Uber did not say where it intends to offer Cruise's services.
Meanwhile, Amazon-owned Zoox said it's testing a new batch of self-driving cars around Austin, with cars already on the streets of Miami, Seattle, Las Vegas and San Francisco Bay.
Waymo has also been testing its cars in Austin amid a federal investigation but has not announced when it will offer its ride-hailing services.
“Cruise is on a mission to leverage driverless technology to create safer streets and redefine urban life,” said Cruise CEO Marc Whitten, who is filling a void created after Cruise founder Kyle Vogt stepped down in the fallout from the California license suspension.
Despite Cruise's recent woes, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi expressed confidence the ride-hailing service could get the robotaxis back on the right track.
“We believe Uber can play an important role in helping to safely and reliably introduce autonomous technology to consumers and cities around the world,” Khosrowshahi said.
KVUE reached out to Cruise for more information on the partnership and if operations would resume in Austin, but has not heard back.
