Cruise Challenges Bump-in-the-Road, Says Oxa

The driverless technology sector and General Motors are still reeling months after the state of California revoked the license of Cruise robo-taxis to carry passengers in the city of San Francisco.

Shortly thereafter, GM said it would cut spending on Cruise by hundreds of millions of dollars in 2024, meaning more layoffs. This is in addition to the 24% workforce reduction announced in December after GM CEO Mary Barra said  there would be a slowdown of Cruise’s expansion and it will eventually relaunch a robo-taxi service but in just one city, which was not named.

The fallout has continued into this year, with CNBC reporting that GM is ending its Ultra Cruise driver-assistance program, which was to be launched in 2023 and eventually be capable of driving itself in 95% of road scenarios. Instead, the company will focus on its existing Super Cruise system and expand its capabilities.

The Cruise debacle is an autonomous vehicle horror story that had the potential to depress the entire sector, as some publications have already suggested. However, if the U.K.-based autonomous vehicle software company Oxa is any indication, that has not happened. In fact, Oxa remains very bullish on the technology because it believes the best route to deploying AV technology is not via robo-taxis.

Rather, as the company’s chief product engineering officer, Graeme Smith, says in an emailed response to questions: “It is to focus on passenger shuttles first (and) providing new economic, environmental and societal choices for people that address an immediate need and stack up commercially.”

In the area of public transport, he says: “The immediate need is for midsize autonomous shuttles bridging the gap between cars and taxis, which add to traffic congestion, and traditional mass transit buses, which are inflexible. Autonomous shuttles will provide the flexible options cities and suburbs need now, including more 24/7 services covering journeys that aren’t practical with human drivers working shifts.

He adds that shared passenger-carrying shuttles followed by industrial logistics, both on- and off-highway, were the most commercially viable near-term domains and would deliver benefits at scale faster than any other AV use cases. “It’s already proven that autonomy for passenger shuttles and logistics is road-ready and 2024 will see Oxa scaling quickly with Oxa Driver software deployment on more vehicles, more vehicle types, routes and with greater capabilities.”

Though he would not go into detail, an Oxa spokesman said the first on-road rollouts are “fairly imminent” with a focus on the U.S. first, followed by the U.K. later in 2024. Oxa had previously announced that it was collaborating with the American micro-transit provider Beep in developing autonomous shuttle services in seven states.

In the meantime, the company has announced that, in partnership with eVersum, a provider of electric commercial vehicles and passenger transport solutions, it will launch in 2025 a fleet of self-driving shuttles, each capable of carrying up to 40 passengers, around the Innovation District in Northern Ireland’s Belfast harbor, as well as tourist attractions such as the revamped Titanic Belfast exhibition.

The shuttles will be driven by the company’s Oxa Driver software and will involve an initial deployment of two autonomous shared passenger shuttles running between local transport links. The rollout phase will begin with a period of closed operation in the first quarter of 2025 before the service opens up for passengers. Oxa sees the project as a blueprint for new public transport networks across both the U.K. and internationally.

However, Smith is also aware of the potential risks the technology presents. “AV systems never get tired, aren’t tempted to break road rules and have an always-on ability to scan for hazards in all directions, ultimately making them safer drivers than humans. But we believe there must be a carefully staged rollout.”

Oxa also believes in human safety attendants being available to take over control of an autonomous vehicle instantly if it is unable to deal with a situation. “We are already testing our automotive-grade safety path system which will enable us to remove the need for human safety attendants when it is safe and legal to do so,” Smith says. This coincides, he notes, with “new AV-specific road safety regulations for the deployment of vehicles and their day-to-day use due over the next couple of years”.

He was referring to the U.K. Autonomy Bill, which is scheduled to be taken up by the House of Lords in March and will probably become law in late 2025 or early 2026. The Oxa spokesman says the company regards AV technology as potentially a trillion-dollar market and the segment it is focusing on – shared passenger shuttles and industrial logistics – is calculated to be a $200 billion market, based on the number of vehicles involved in it today and where AV is applicable.