Cruise to redeploy driverless cars in Phoenix

Cruise, a driverless vehicle company, is starting to redeploy its cars in Phoenix after pulling all of them off the road about five months ago.

AUSTIN, Texas - More self-driving vehicles may soon be driving around the Austin area. The company, Cruise, is starting to redeploy its cars in Phoenix after pulling all of them off the road about five months ago.

Cruise hit the brakes and suspended all operations in October to "rebuild trust and to redesign their approach to safety."

Since the company came to Austin in 2022, many incidents have been caught on camera. Between July 2021 and September 2023, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported more than 125 crashes involving Cruise vehicles without drivers.

MORE: Cruise suspends driverless vehicle operations in Texas

Cruise suspends driverless cars in Texas

Cruise has officially hit the brakes on its driverless cars on Austin roadways, and across the country, after being in service for less than two years locally. Residents weigh in about the suspension.

"That just seems egregious to have out on the streets," Austin bicyclist Robert Foster said.

Austin City Council members expressed their concerns back in October.

"I don’t think this technology is ready for primetime," Austin City Council District 9 representative Zo Qadri said.

"Our public roads should not be a test playground, we should not be treated like guinea pigs," Austin City Council District 8 Representative Paige Ellis said.

Many Austin residents said they’re hoping for the vehicles to return to the area.

"If there is some technology loop they need to figure out, then figure it out and re-release them," Austin resident Eo Sparks said.

Cruise software recall on driverless cars

This month, the self-driving car company Cruise issued a voluntary recall of the software used by its autonomous fleet. This comes after the company paused operations in Austin and nationwide.

Cruise is redeploying vehicles in Phoenix. The company said they’ve made significant progress with new leadership and will start with a small fleet of manually operated vehicles to collect data while a person is driving. They said the goal, though, is to ultimately resume driverless operations, and they plan to expand to other cities as they work with officials and community leaders.

A transportation writer said much further technology is needed before more driverless cars are on the streets.

"It’s going to take years if not decades to get this technology to be on the level of what a human operator, human brain can do," Transportation- The Verge contributing writer Patrick George said.

FOX 7 asked Cruise if Austin is next on the list for redeploying cars and a Cruise representative said they have nothing further to share on cities other than Phoenix right now.

Qadri said there have been no conversations about Cruise redeploying in Austin.