GM autonomous vehicle subsidiary Cruise is partnering with the Houston Food Bank on its mission to solve food insecurity in the biggest city in Texas. Specifically, they’re collaborating on the Food Rx program, which serves high-risk and expectant mothers. Community Health Choice and the University of Texas School of Public Health are also pitching in on the project.
Cruise will deploy its Chevy Bolt EV-based AV autonomous vehicles with safety drivers onboard to deliver food to mothers struggling with food insecurity. The plan is to make 180 deliveries for a total of 6,000 meals for needy moms in the Houston area. Food insecurity is exacerbated when those affected lack reliable transportation, which is where Cruise comes in.
“With nearly a million people in the Greater Houston area facing food insecurity, access to food is a challenge, particularly with a lack of transportation,” Houston Food Bank Executive Gifts Officer Amy Ragain said in the video below. “That is why this partnership with Cruise is so exciting to us. We are leveraging technology to the point where it can really make a difference in people’s lives in the Houston community.”
“As someone who’s called Houston home for most of my life, it’s so meaningful for me to be able to leverage innovative technology to serve people in my community who need it the most,” Cruise General Manager of Houston Sola Lawal said of the partnership. “We are looking forward to partnering with the Houston Food Bank to help address food insecurity, which affects one million Houstonians.”
Cruise resumed operations in the Houston area in June of 2024 after halting operations in the fall of 2023 following a high-profile accident with a pedestrian in San Francisco. The vehicles drive autonomously with safety drivers in the driver’s seats.
For the time being, Cruise will operate with its existing fleet of Chevy Bolt EV-based AVs, as GM decided to halt production of the Cruise Origin robotaxi, which has no steering wheel or driver controls. Units already built were sent to storage at GM’s Grand Blanc Tooling Center for the foreseeable future.
Comments
What an expensive little “game” .
Delivering to high-risk, expectant mothers in need would be better served with humans that can unload and deliver the food to the doorstep, ring the doorbell, and if need be, carry the food into the home for the recipient.
Oh wait, the AV’s have required safety drivers to make sure the vehicles get to their destinations without causing an accident. The safety drivers can do the doorstep delivery, unless these drivers cannot exit the vehicle for safety reasons, which would then mean there needs to be a human passenger for doorstep delivery?
This outreach would be a whole lot more safe, less expensive, and personal with a standard, human-driven delivery vehicle staffed with a volunteer that truly cares.
I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around this comment. A company uses its resources to help the community, and your thought is to criticize the effort?
There is a human driver on board, so these deliveries will be safe and personal. And you’re not paying for it—Cruise is—so why do you care about the expense? It’s a win-win for Cruise. They get more miles of testing in vehicle and also get to help those in need. Your criticisms seem off base.
Isn’t this precious?