Cruise will send some of its trouble-prone robot taxis to join Uber's ride-hailing service

The alliance represents Cruise's latest change of direction since its California self-driving license was revoked in October 2023 after one of its robotaxis dragged a pedestrian who ran a red light and was struck by a human-driven vehicle across a dark San Francisco street.

The incident sparked regulatory investigations into Cruise and prompted parent company General Motors to scale back its once-bold ambitions in the field of autonomous driving.

GM had envisioned Cruise generating $1 billion in annual revenue by 2025 as its robotaxis steadily expanded beyond San Francisco into other cities, providing a driverless alternative to ride-sharing services from Uber and Lyft.

But now GM and Cruise want to make money by combining the robotaxis with Uber's human-driven cars and giving passengers the ability to request an autonomous ride when they need it. Financial details of the partnership were not disclosed, nor were the cities where Uber plans to offer Cruise's robotaxis next year.

Unless something changes, California will not be one of the options because Cruise's license remains suspended in that state.

Meanwhile, a robotaxi fleet operated by Google spin-off Waymo is expanding beyond San Francisco into cities around the Bay Area and Southern California. Earlier this week, Waymo announced that its robotaxis are completing more than 100,000 paid rides per week – a figure that includes operations in Phoenix, where the company has operated for several years.

Cruise currently operates autonomous Chevy Bolts in Phoenix and Dallas, with humans behind the wheel and ready to take over if something goes wrong. The Uber deal underscores Cruise's determination to get back to the point where its robotaxis navigate the streets entirely on their own.

“Cruise is committed to using driverless technology to create safer streets and redefine urban life,” said Cruise CEO Marc Whitten, who fills a void created after Cruise founder Kyle Vogt resigned following the suspension of his driver's license in California.

GM also laid off hundreds of employees as part of its financial austerity measures in California after the company incurred losses of $5.8 billion from 2021 to 2023 on the robotaxi service. The Detroit-based automaker suffered another operating loss of $900 million on Cruise in the first half of this year, but that was lower than the previous year's figure of nearly $1.2 billion.

Despite Cruise's recent problems, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi expressed confidence that the ride-sharing service can get the robotaxi back on track.

“We believe Uber can play an important role in enabling safe and reliable adoption of autonomous technology for consumers and cities around the world,” Khosrowshahi said.