If you’re one of those people who don’t enjoy small talk from your Uber driver, help — and your ride — is on the way.
The ride-share company has announced it will begin offering rides from the GM-owned autonomous car company Cruise LLC next year.
“Once [the partnership is] launched, when an Uber rider requests a qualifying ride on the Uber app, they may be presented with the option to have that trip fulfilled by a Cruise autonomous vehicle,” a joint press release states.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi noted, “As the largest mobility and delivery platform, we believe Uber can play an important role in helping to safely and reliably introduce autonomous technology to consumers and cities around the world,” adding the company is “thrilled to partner with Cruise” for this endeavor.
Bloomberg points out that Cruise grounded its fleet last October when one of its driverless vehicles in California struck and dragged a pedestrian, who required months of hospitalization.
The incident, and prior management of the company’s handling of it, reportedly led California regulators to pull the company’s driverless license.
That said, Cruise will return to the streets in 2025 and the Uber partnership will begin rolling out afterward in a pilot program.