Cruise Fulfills Promise to Open Robotaxi Services in Phoenix and Austin Before the End of the Year

JAKARTA - Cruise fulfilled its promise to expand its robotaxi services to two new markets before the end of this year. For years, Cruise has operated its autonomous ridehail service exclusively in San Francisco. But earlier this year, the GM-backed company said it would launch services in Phoenix, Arizona, and Austin, Texas, before the end of 2022.

On Tuesday, December 20, Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt took to Twitter of short videos of passengers from two cities raving about driverless vehicles to the fullest as proof of the promises made. "Friends, we are entering the golden years of AV expansion," he added.

For starters, only "friends and family" of Cruise employees will have access to the company's ridehail services, including fully driverless vehicles. But it would gradually grow to include people not affiliated with Cruise.

According to a Cruise spokesperson, the Company opened waiting lists for both cities this week and hopes to start offering rides once it has enough vehicles to meet demand.

"For starters, only Cruise employees' "friends and family" will have access to the company's ridehail service," Cruise said.

Earlier this year, the company boasted that it would only take "90 days" to go from "zero to driverless" as a demonstration of its ability to roll out in new cities without as much testing required as its original market, San Francisco. Indeed, it took Cruise years to launch a paid driverless taxi service in San Francisco.

Cruise originally planned to launch commercial services there in 2019 but failed to do so after stating that the technology was not ready. The service will then launch in 2022.

Cruise currently operates a fully and 24-hour driverless vehicle in San Francisco, although it is only permitted to charge for the ride at night. Cruise was approved this week for permission from California DMV to expand its service area to include the entire city of San Francisco.

Last week, the National Highway Traffic Administration said it had opened an investigation into incidents where hard or sudden braking by a Cruise vehicle resulted in a rear-end collision and blocking traffic. Cruise himself welcomed the inspection, noting that his vehicle had caused an accident but "no life-threatening injuries or deaths."