Almost a year after a Cruise autonomous vehicle was involved in a pedestrian accident, the company has tentatively returned to Sunnyvale and Mountain View. Cruise confirmed that a handful of manually driven mapping vehicles had begun operations today, with a transition to supervised testing of up to five autonomous vehicles expected "later this fall," as reported by TechCrunch.

In their announcement, Cruise emphasized their collaboration with local authorities and commitment to product refinement through research and development, "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. The move allows Cruise's local employees to engage directly with our product as they refine and improve our tech through R&D. It also follows a settlement where Cruise paid a $112,500 fine to the California Public Utilities Commission for inadequate reporting of the 2023 incident.

Starting today we will deploy several manual mapping vehicles in Sunnyvale and Mountain View with the intent to progress to supervised testing with up to 5 AVs later this fall. Resuming testing in the Bay Area is an important step forward as we continue to work closely with… pic.twitter.com/OlDkv74r34

— cruise (@Cruise) September 19, 2024

Last October's mishap, which resulted in a pedestrian being hit and dragged by a Cruise vehicle, instigated critical changes within the organization. This led to a restructuring that saw the departure of key leadership figures, including then CEO Kyle Vogt, with new executives appointed by the parent company General Motors and an infusion of an additional $850 million into Cruise, outlined by TechCrunch.

After the incident and amid recovery and restructuring, Cruise steadily reintroduced its AVs to Phoenix and Dallas streets while discontinuing their specially designed robotaxi, the Origin, and has signed a multi-year deal to furnish its autonomous technology to Uber's ride-hailing service beginning in 2025. This partnership places them alongside their competitor Waymo, which initiated a similar alliance with Uber the previous year, as detailed by TechCrunch.