Uber and GM’s Cruise announced what they’re calling a “multiyear strategic partnership” on Thursday to offer driverless vehicles for hire—often called robotaxis—on the Uber platform. And while there are still a lot of things we don’t know about the program, from how much the rides will cost to what cities they’ll be available in, both companies say it’ll be up and running by next year. Reached for comment on Thursday, a spokesperson for Cruise would only tell Gizmodo that the first city with robotaxis on the Uber platform in 2025 would be one of three cities: Phoenix, Arizona, Dallas, Texas or Houston, Texas.
“Our focus remains on relaunching our own driverless app and service, the launch of this partnership will follow that,” the spokesperson said via email. Uber has dabbled with self-driving vehicles on the roads as a viable alternative to human drivers, but the company’s efforts never took off. Back in 2017, Uber even signed a deal with Volvo to make that happen in a program that ultimately fizzled out.
There were Uber robotaxis in Las Vegas in 2022 , but they still had drivers behind the wheel. It’s clear that achieving reliable and safe self-driving capabilities in cars-for-hire at a wide scale has been a dream that several companies have been trying to make happen for over a decade. “Cruise is on a mission to leverage driverless technology to create safer streets and redefine urban life,” Marc Whitten, CEO of Cruise, said in a statement pub.