If you’ve been in downtown Dallas this summer, you’ve likely spotted the Cruise-emblazoned Chevrolet Bolts tooling along city streets with a driver at the wheel. The car was driving itself and the human was there to supervise.
You’ll now start seeing them without a driver, but with the self-driving technology company’s employees and a small cohort of friends and family along for the ride.
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Cruise, the San Francisco company backed by General Motors, is moving to its final stage of testing before launching its fully automated ride-hailing service to the public.
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It’s been running tests since June through Oak Lawn, Uptown, Downtown, Deep Ellum and Lower Greenville. In San Francisco, where the service is fully launched, rides cost a base fee of $5 and 40 cents per minute, according to Forbes.
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Cruise has already rolled out in Houston and Austin. In GM’s latest quarterly report, it says Cruise vehicles had 54% fewer collisions overall versus human drivers in comparable driving environments.
“We don’t consider ourselves to be a replacement for any public transportation,” Yariel Diaz, senior manager of government affairs for Cruise, said in a Dallas City Council meeting Tuesday. “We consider ourselves to be an option for folks who want to ride in autonomous vehicles … to get to where they’re going in vehicles that don’t get tired, distracted or drive drunk.”
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Cruise vehicles are equipped with five levels of autonomy. Currently, its Dallas vehicles are at level four, meaning the vehicle is doing all the driving tasks and doesn’t allow a passenger to take over. Autonomous passenger vehicles are restricted to certain geography, time of day and weather conditions.
The next step is for the vehicles to go fully autonomous in any weather condition and location.
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The Detroit automotive giant expects big things from its automated vehicles, predicting annual revenue of $50 billion by 2030 from Cruise. The company is providing 10,000 rides a week in 390 driverless autonomous vehicles in the four cities where it’s operating.
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GM isn’t the only one with big hopes for Cruise. SoftBank, a Tokyo-based multinational investment holding company, invested $1.35 billion into the venture.
Overcoming safety fears remains a key hurdle when Cruise goes fully driverless. The company is working with city officials and local police departments to ensure the vehicles operate safely.
“Our work with cities and communities goes beyond regulation,” Jason Hung, Cruise’s Dallas general manager, said in an email to The Dallas Morning News. “Partnering with local law enforcement and first responders to provide regular training and meeting with local neighborhood associations as we slowly introduce this service and technology to the public.”
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Cruise’s cars are still figuring out some of Dallas’ distinctive features.
“One unique and charming characteristic of Dallas is the McKinney Avenue trolley,” Hung said. “While our vehicles understand trolleys from San Francisco, there are distinct nuances of the McKinney route that are unique to Dallas and we need to learn to understand the local market to provide a great experience for the public.”
While its home base of San Francisco was an initial proving ground, the company has been criticized there for causing traffic jams, collisions and blocking an ambulance responding to an emergency, which contributed to a pedestrian’s death.
“When we arrived at the scene, the only open lanes for egress from the call were blocked by two Cruise vehicles that had stopped and were not moving or leaving the scene,” the San Francisco Fire Department said to Forbes. “We were unable to leave the scene initially due to the Cruise vehicles not moving. This delay, no matter how minimal, contributed to a poor patient outcome.”
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Cruise defended its vehicles and said authorities were “irresponsible to try to shift the blame for this tragic event toward our fleet.”
“The ambulance behind the AV had a clear path to pass the AV as other vehicles, including another ambulance, proceeded to do,” the company said in a statement.
Hung said the self-driving industry is making progress every day.
“We are still in the early days of what’s to come as driverless ride-hail becomes a reality for more people,” he said. “We simply ask that once it’s available, you give it a try.”
Cruise will start going driverless on Dallas city streets in final testing phase
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