Proposed Law Allowing California Cities To Regulate GM’s Cruise AVs Implodes

A proposed California law that would’ve seen autonomous driving companies like GM’s Cruise be regulated by local cities has been dismissed.

According to a report from The Mercury News, the Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association – a business group that represents robotaxi subsidiaries like GM’s Cruise and Alphabet’s Waymo – is celebrating the demise of the proposed legislature after California State Sen. Dave Cortese pulled his Senate Bill 915, which provided provisions for localized control of self-driving companies.

Essentially, the individual rules and regulations each California city would’ve had the ability to implement would’ve made it very complicated for robotaxi companies to operate efficiently, as a patchwork of local regulations would’ve made it very difficult for robotaxis to operate easily from one city to another and effectively service consumer needs. “The bill would have prevented safety and accessibility opportunities for millions of Californians,” the association said.

In other Cruise-related developments, GM Authority recently reported that General Motors’ autonomous driving subsidiary has officially returned to the streets of Houston, Texas, which comes after relaunching operations in Phoenix, Arizona and Dallas, Texas. For the time being, human drivers will sit behind the wheel as the Cruise AV units operate, while Cruise has ambitious plans to expand its operations into the Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Tempe, Mesa, Gilbert, and Chandler areas as certain safety benchmarks are reached.

Of course, these are the first three cities Cruise has operated it robotaxi units in since the October 2023 incident where a pedestrian was struck and trapped by a Cruise AV unit after being hit by a human-driven vehicle.

Beyond that, The General recently announced that it will invest another $850 million into Cruise, with GM Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Paul Jacobson explaining that this new funding effort would buy the Detroit-based automaker more time to conduct what it calls a “strategic review” of the self-driving subsidiary’s future. Notably, General Motors has already invested roughly $8 billion into the subsidiary, which has yet to post any significant revenue figures.

In response to the fresh investment, a Cruise spokesperson remarked that the company is grateful for The General’s continued backing.

Be sure to subscribe to GM Authority for GM Cruise news, GM AV news, GM technology news, GM EV news, GM business news, and more obsessive-compulsive GM news coverage.