Cruise Begins Testing Self-Driving Vehicles in Atlanta

(TNS) — For the moment, there’s still a driver at the wheel, but San Francisco-based Cruise has begun testing its self-driving vehicles in Atlanta.While Cruise intends to eventually operate a ride-hailing service with autonomous vehicles here, a company spokeswoman said a driver would be behind the wheel in the initial phase as its cars roll through parts of downtown, Midtown and Buckhead.“It’s an important first step in getting to know Atlanta’s roads (and) driving behaviors before we progress to driverless operations,” said Anna Haase, in an email statement on Tuesday.The company had announced its intentions in Atlanta in an online post on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, on Monday. Cruise , which has raised $10 billion from investors including General Motors, Honda, Microsoft, T. Rowe Price and Walmart, has a fleet of nearly 400 all-electric vehicles. The company is now operating a driverless taxi service in San Francisco, Austin and Phoenix.Cruise officials say their vehicles have logged more than 3 million driverless miles and completed tens of thousands of rides. Among the accomplishments have been 35,000 driverless deliveries in Phoenix, according to the company. “Tesla — which has experimented more aggressively with automation than other automakers have — also is linked to almost all of the deaths.”Cruise announced a week ago that it was expanding its testing to Nashville and has begun testing in Los Angeles.Atlanta is already seeing testing of autonomous vehicles.Earlier this year, the Cumberland Community Improvement District officials launched an autonomous vehicle in partnership with Beep, an autonomous transport company.