GM promised to have its Cruise self-driving taxi service up and working in three US cities by the top of 2022 — and, as of this week, it has formally stored that promise with Cruise taxis working in San Francisco, CA, Phoenix, AZ, and (now) Austin, TX.
Cruise CEO, Kyle Vogt, took a victory lap on Twitter final week, full with video …
We promised we’d go driverless in 3 cities by the top of this 12 months, and WE DID IT! @Cruise is now reside in SF, Austin, and Phoenix.
Of us, we’re coming into the golden years of AV growth.
Extra about this launch: pic.twitter.com/guocKlWmf4
— Kyle Vogt (@kvogt) December 20, 2022
… nevertheless it wasn’t till a few days later that we obtained a real-life “first look” on the autonomous taxi service working in Austin on this 7-minute video (additionally posted to Twitter) from Austin-area Bitcoiner Sahil Chaturvedi, which you’ll watch under:
Final evening, @cruise launched their self-driving (NO people within the automobile!) taxi service in downtown Austin, TX 🤠
I used to be fortunate to have the ability to attempt it out! Here is my first impression.
Watch me giggle like a maniac round 4:01 🤣 👇 https://t.co/239E4E4RsI pic.twitter.com/RGNwFvcOfX
— Sahil Chaturvedi (@SahilC0) December 22, 2022
That’s to not say that the GM robotaxi effort has been excellent. Earlier this 12 months, one Cruise EV was pulled over by SFPD earlier than it “bolted” off, and the NHTSA opened an investigation into Cruise autos inflicting accidents, stopping abruptly and blocking roadways. The NHTSA investigation marks yet one more similarity between “trendy” GM and Tesla.
So, why is that this such an enormous deal? As a result of it kinda-sorta makes GM’s greatest robotaxi rival, Tesla, look actually, actually unhealthy.
That’s as a result of Tesla has been promising to place totally autonomous, self driving “robotaxi” capabilities on the highway “subsequent 12 months” since a minimum of 2016 … and people self-driving taxis are critically necessary to Tesla — a minimum of based on Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, who emphasised the significance of getting his firm’s self-driving robotaxi service up and working as rapidly as attainable. “The overwhelming focus is on fixing full self-driving,” Musk informed interviewers on the YouTube channel, Tesla House owners Silicon Valley. “That’s important. It’s actually the distinction between Tesla being price some huge cash or price mainly zero.”
You’ll be able to learn a few of these guarantees — which embrace a Tesla Community ride-hailing service and references to Superchargers with “computerized cost connection” within the 2016 screengrab under, then tell us what you consider GM Cruise assembly its purpose — and whether or not or not that constitutes beating Tesla to the punch — within the feedback part on the backside of the web page.
Sources: GM, Bloomberg.
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