Uber Technologies, GM's Cruise Enter Partnership for Autonomous Vehicles

By Denny Jacob

Uber Technologies and General Motors' driverless-car business, Cruise, entered into a multiyear strategic partnership to bring autonomous vehicles to the Uber platform.

Uber, whose offerings include ride sharing and food delivery, said the companies plan to launch the partnership next year with a dedicated number of Chevy Bolt-based autonomous vehicles that will present itself as an option for users for certain ride requests.

The companies didn't outline where geographically such options from Cruise would be available.

The driverless-car business has come under scrutiny following an incident in October in which a woman in San Francisco was struck by a human-driven car and flung into the path of a self-driving Cruise vehicle, which then dragged her for about 20 feet. California regulators pulled Cruise's permits shortly after the incident. Cruise went on to voluntarily pull its cars off the road in several other cities.

In January, Cruise said federal prosecutors are investigating the case and it is cooperating with the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission among other state and federal agencies examining its handling of the incident.

Earlier Thursday, federal auto-safety regulators ended an investigation into the autonomous-driving system used by Cruise after a recall resolved concerns around inappropriately hard braking.

Write to Denny Jacob at denny.jacob@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 22, 2024 16:44 ET (20:44 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.