Cruise set to begin testing autonomous vehicles in Bay Area

General Motors’ (NYSE:GM) autonomous vehicle division, Cruise, will deploy manual mapping vehicles in the San Francisco Bay Area, progressing to supervised testing with up to five autonomous vehicles later in the fall, the company said in a post on X Thursday.

The expansion into California comes after the company began supervised autonomous driving in Phoenix, Arizona, and Dallas, Texas, and manual driving in Houston, Texas.

The deliberate and cautious return to autonomous driving comes as the company tries to rebuild trust in its self-driving vehicles after an accident involving a pedestrian in San Francisco resulted in the company pulling its vehicles off the road.

“We’ve made significant progress, guided by new company leadership, recommendations from third-party experts, and a focus on a close partnership with the communities in which our vehicles operate. We are committed to this improvement as a continuous effort,” Cruise said in a statement.

In the latest development, manually-driven vehicles will be deployed in San Francisco suburbs Sunnyvale and Mountain View to establish maps that will eventually be used by self-driving vehicles.

“Resuming testing in the Bay Area is an important step forward as we continue to work closely with California regulators and local stakeholders,” Cruise said in its social media post.