Autonomous taxi-provider Cruise announced its robots now cover 70 percent of the San Franscisco area. Only last year Cruise was the first to operate a robotaxi-service in California when the California Public Utilities Commission authorized Cruise to participate in California’s first pilot program to provide driverless autonomous vehicle (AV) passenger service to the public.
Earlier Cruise and General Motors announced they have entered a long-term strategic relationship with Microsoft to accelerate the commercialization of self-driving vehicles. The companies will bring together their software and hardware engineering, cloud computing capabilities, manufacturing know-how and partner ecosystem.
Cruise will use Azure, Microsoft’s cloud and edge computing platform, to commercialize its autonomous vehicle solutions at scale. Microsoft, as Cruise’s preferred cloud provider, will also tap into Cruise’s deep industry expertise to enhance its customer-driven product innovation and serve transportation companies across the globe through continued investment in Azure.
Cruise so far has received $10 billion from companies and investors including GM, Honda, Microsoft, T. Rowe Price, and Walmart, increasing the company’s valuation 30x since its founding.
