GM's robotaxi startup plans to expand its service to Phoenix and Austin within 90 days, following its launch in San Francisco earlier this year

• An autonomous taxi startup backed by GM aims to expand its service to two new US cities, its CEO said.
• Cruise plans to expand to Phoenix, Arizona, and Austin, Texas, within 90 days, per Reuters.

Cruise, a General Motors-backed autonomous taxi company, aims to add Phoenix, Arizona, and Austin, Texas, to its ride-hailing network this year, its CEO said.

The company aims to expand to the cities within the next three months and hopes the new service could help it hit revenues of $1 billion by 2025, Kyle Vogt told attendees at Goldman Sachs' Communacopia + Technology Conference, on Monday, per Reuters.

For the first time in eight years, the technology for automated vehicles "is no longer the bottleneck," Vogt said at the event, according to Bloomberg. "We're in a position to grow and to do it very quickly," he added.

Vogt said Cruise had been testing a self-driving delivery service with Walmart in Phoenix and already obtained permits for using self-driving cars in the city.

Cruise, which was bought by General Motors in 2016, began trialing a nighttime ride-hailing service in San Francisco in January 2022. It won approval from California's Public Utilities Commission to start charging customers for rides in June.

The company uses around 70 driverless cars for its San Francisco service, including Chevrolet Bolt EVs, per Reuters. Vogt said that the technology had performed well enough to justify the expansion, per Bloomberg.

Since its foundation in 2013, Cruise has received more than $10 billion from investors including GM, Walmart, Microsoft, and Honda. However, it's been burning cash as it works to develop its own self-driving car, Origin, which it's set to begin manufacturing at GM's Factory Zero, in 2023.

The company posted an operating loss of $543 million in the three months to June 2022, according to GM's second-quarter earnings report.

Vogt said the company also plans to triple or double the number of vehicles it runs in San Francisco by the end of the year, per Reuters.

Cruise did not immediately respond to Insider's request for further comment, made outside of standard working hours.