--- title: "Cruise Robotaxis’ Road to Redemption Will Start in Phoenix" description: "GM's self-driving arm hasn't been offering fares since October, but it will begin human-driven mapping in Arizona this week." date: "2024-04-09" modified: "2024-04-09" authors: - name: "Adam Ismail" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/adam-ismail" url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/cruise-robotaxis-road-to-redemption-will-start-in-phoenix" categories: - "Car Tech" - "News" - "Self-Driving Tech" tags: - "Bolt" - "Bolt EUV" - "Chevrolet" - "Electric Vehicle" - "Hatchback" - "suv/crossover" --- # Cruise Robotaxis’ Road to Redemption Will Start in Phoenix ![]() *A Cruise robotaxi operating in San Francisco with a human safety driver behind the wheel in 2019. \Andrej Sokolow/picture alliance via Getty Images\* If you feel like you haven't heard any news on General Motors' self-driving Cruise unit lately, there's good reason for that. After the company was alleged by the California Department of Motor Vehicles to have withheld footage concerning an October hit-and-run that one of the firm's vehicles was involved in, [Cruise promptly suspended operations]() across the country and recalled the nearly 1,000 robotaxis in its fleet. Cruise's path back to offering fares again has been unclear in recent months, but now it seems the company will resume activity in Phoenix, Arizona first, and testing may begin as early as today. Cruise spokesperson Pat Morrissey confirmed this plan to *[Bloomberg]()* on Tuesday. It's important to note that "testing" isn't code for a beta run of autonomous rides with the public or anything of that nature. Cruise personnel is driving the fleet on streets in Phoenix to "create maps and gather road information," in the company's words. "This work is done using human-driven vehicles without autonomous systems engaged and is a critical step in validating our self-driving systems as we work towards returning to our driverless mission," Morrissey told the news outlet. The effort will begin in Phoenix but will need to happen in many more cities before Cruise can return to the kind of operational scale it had before last fall. Back then, Cruise was up and running in San Francisco, where the hit-and-run incident occurred; Houston, Austin, and Dallas in Texas; Miami, Florida; and Phoenix. It's now speaking to officials in 20 metropolitan areas, according to *Bloomberg*, though Phoenix was reportedly favored as a starting point because it already has cars there and the city was receptive to Cruise's request. After this first mapping step is done, Cruise robotaxis will begin supervised self-driving runs with a human driver in the car to ensure everything's running properly. So it figures to be a while before Cruise starts bringing in money, which may be a problem because [Cruise lost GM nearly $3.5 billion last year](). Nevertheless, [GM CEO Mary Barra said in January]() that the company is "committed" to its self-driving startup, as Cruise's new chief executive, Mo Elshenawy, has settled into the nonexistent driver's seat [vacated by Kyle Vogt late last year](). *Got tips? Send 'em to tips@thedrive.com* ## Author Adam is a Senior Editor at The Drive, concentrating on curating and developing the site's slate of daily journalism, from initial pitch to final copy edit. When he's not at his desk researching leads and working with writers, he's testing vehicles or reviewing racing games, new and old. He joined The Drive in 2023, following seven years of covering consumer technology and cars. A car lover and gamer since his earliest memories, Adam came to know the automotive world through video games. First it was Daytona USA, Sega Rally, and Ridge Racer; then came Need For Speed, which inspired an encyclopedic knowledge of '90s supercars, and, of course, Gran Turismo. If not for them, he'd assuredly be doing something else right now. Adam is based in the suburbs outside Philly, where there are ample roads for his hot hatch to stretch its legs. In his car, he's probably listening to indie rock, drum and bass, or Yankees baseball. ### Author social links [Bluesky]() [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]()