Cruise Robotaxis Are Back in Phoenix - But People Are Driving Them

Cruise is redeploying robotaxis in Phoenix after nearly five months of paused operations, the company said in a blog post. The catch? The cars will be in so-called "manual mode," so they won't be driving themselves. From a report: Cruise will resume manual driving of its autonomous vehicles to create maps and gather road information in certain cities, starting with Phoenix, the company said Tuesday. The General Motors subsidiary already had a presence in Phoenix before it pulled its entire U.S.-based fleet last year following an incident in San Francisco that left a pedestrian stuck under and dragged by a Cruise robotaxi. Prior to that incident, Cruise had been announcing launches in new cities -- including Dallas, Houston and Miami -- at a startling pace. Critics accused the company of expanding too fast and cutting corners on safety.

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