General Motors self-driving vehicle division Cruise has announced it will deploy its fully autonomous robotaxis in the city of Dubai starting in early 2023.
The company said it will work with the Dubai Road and Transit Authority (RTA) to deploy a small number of Cruise Origin vehicles on the city’s roads in 2023 and will have exclusive access to autonomous taxi services in the city through to 2029. Dubai hopes to have as many as 4,000 autonomous taxis roaming its streets by 2030.
“The Cruise Origin will make transportation safer, a better experience, more affordable and better for the planet,” Cruise CEO Dan Ammann said in a statement. “Dubai and the RTA are leading the way in making this a reality for their people, and for people everywhere.”
The Cruise Origin is a Level 4 autonomous vehicle that is expected to enter production at GM’s Factory Zero plant sometime in 2022. With the Origin, Cruise hopes to offer a ride-hailing service that will compete with the likes of Uber and Lyft, although it will potentially offer superior profit margins due to the absence of a human driver. The Origin is based on GM’s own dedicated electric vehicle platform and will use GM’s new Ultium lithium-ion battery pack design and Ultium Drive electric motors.
Mattar Mohammed Al Tayer, chairman of the RTA, said his organization selected Cruise as its exclusive robotaxi partner due to the relative advancement of the Cruise Origin, as well as its various automaker partnerships and strong investor backing. Cruise is majority-owned by GM but also counts Honda, Microsoft, the Softbank Vision Fund and T. Rowe Price Associates among its major backers. To date, Cruise has attracted roughly $9.25 billion in investment.
“The selection of Cruise was not taken lightly,” said Al Tayer. “We engaged in a comprehensive, multi-year process to choose the best possible partner. Cruise’s technology, resources, purpose-built vehicle, automaker partnerships, approach to safe testing and deployment and strategy give them the ability to launch safely and faster than any other company. Preparations for the launch of the self-driving service will start shortly.”
Residents of Dubai can expect to see the first geo-fenced Cruise Origin robotaxi vehicles on roads in early 2023.
In addition to Dubai, the Cruise Origin will also eventually be put into service in Japan. Cruise announced a plan last year to send autonomous prototypes to Japan for testing and development purposes with the eventual goal of launching a ride-hailing service in the country in partnership with local manufacturer Honda.
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Comments
Amen to that! Another great instance of the early bird catches the worm move. Well done Mary!
Excusive access to a major world city! The data is everything when it comes to AI and autonomous driving, how many miles you get in real traffic, you get better and better while you come across wide variety of odd scenarios. There’s no better way to learn how to deal with human drivers’ behaviors. US regulations don’t allow for full autonomous driving yet so this a precious opportunity. I can see Cruise beating Tesla and Waymo to the market.
Unfortunately few share your enthusiasm in regards to these drones. Many want no part if them myself included. I would much prefer General Motors spend more money on products like a Bronco competitor
I believe 99% of people would want a bronco competitor from GM, except that 1% is gm executives. this is because cruise will allow gm to escape this old dinosaur image and will result in a explosion of the stock price leading to more money leading to a possible expansion of the hummer ev lineup or into more specialty high profit models.
Let’s hope. Remember higher stick prices do not necessarily equate to more revenue for product.
1. Those pictures are from Sodom not Dubai.
2. Men and women aren’t allowed to sit in many transit vehicles in Dubai.
3. They will need a number of women’s only robotaxis to comply.
if that is sodom, where is gomorrah?
Today several news sites are reporting the Cruise Dubai deal. Part of that news is the Dubai aim to “reduce traffic accidents, cut pollution and save money while converting 25% of all trips in the city to driverless transport by 2030”. I expect that if most of that 25% is conducted with Cruise autonomous taxis then Cruise Dubai taxi numbers will exceed 100,000 rather than just number about 4000.