Cruise Faces Long Road Back To City Streets in Wake of Safety Review

General Motors' Cruise self-driving car unit faces a trip that could last the better part of this year to convince regulators and a wary public that its robotaxis are fit to share the road with human drivers, industry officials said. From a report: After releasing a withering safety report last week that Cruise commissioned, GM said on Tuesday it slashed about $1 billion from Cruise's annual budget and promised to 'soon' release a timeline for the unit's return to operations. The U.S. automaker also delayed indefinitely a March update when it was expected to lay out plans.

That has raised questions about when Cruise might get its vehicles back on the road, particularly as it faces various government probes including from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. 'Investigating defects is a highly deliberative process,' said Mark Rosekind, a former NHTSA chief who has also worked for Amazon.com's Zoox autonomous vehicle unit. 'It would be months, easily, and for bigger problems up to a year or more to resolve an investigation.'

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