Cruise shifts its self-driving car fleet to food delivery for seniors

Cruise vehicles, the self-driving electric Chevy Bolts usually spotted around San Francisco neighborhoods, are back on the road after a brief pause during the coronavirus outbreak. And now that the fleet is considered an essential service, it’s driving with even more of a purpose.

The General Motors-backed autonomous car company repurposed a portion of its testing fleet in mid-April to deliver food throughout San Francisco. This shift, however, didn’t require much of a change to how Cruise was operating before social distancing. Prior to the outbreak, the company’s electric vehicles — equipped with sensors and self-driving tech — were being tested on city streets for an upcoming robotaxi service. 

Instead, for the past two weeks Cruise has been dropping off contactless food deliveries to vulnerable communities. Through a pro bono arrangement with the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank and other San Francisco organizations, more than 3,700 meals have been delivered by its autonomous vehicles. Other autonomous companies, like Massachusetts-based Optimus Ride, have similarly converted what used to be self-driving commute programs into food delivery for senior communities.

Since the delivery program kicked off on April 16, Cruise has allotted two safety drivers per vehicle. Remember, the vehicles are in autonomous mode while on the road. So to ensure their safety during this pandemic, the drivers are given company-provided protective gear and will remain assigned to the same vehicle for every delivery throughout the duration of the program. As it’s a voluntary program, these safety drivers also can opt-out whenever they’d like.

Cruise’s food pickups and deliveries are entirely contactless: Volunteers load the vehicle with the boxed meals, the safety drivers plug in the destination, and then the car heads off to its destination. When Cruise arrives, the food is delivered without the recipients and safety drivers having to interact. 

Meanwhile Waymo, Alphabet’s autonomous car company, and other startups like Zoox and Aurora have paused their self-driving programs. It would seem that robotaxis haven’t earned essential status quite yet.