General Motors' (NYSE:GM) Cruise is looking to return to operating driverless vehicles by the end of the year, company CEO Mary Barra said on Tuesday, during the third-quarter earnings call.

What Happened: "...we'll be gated by safety, but we hope and we're working hard to get there by the end of the year," Barra said in response to an analyst who enquired when the autonomous driving unit will return to unsupervised testing of its Cruise vehicles.

Cruise suspended all of its operations in the U.S. late last year following the involvement of one of its robotaxis in an accident in San Francisco, leading to heightened regulatory scrutiny and the exit of its co-founder and then CEO Kyle Vogt.

The company resumed manual driving in the city of Phoenix to gather road information earlier this year in April and in Houston and Dallas, Texas in June.

The team at Cruise is currently working on improving its technology and cost structure, Barra said on Tuesday while adding that details on their future funding model will be provided in the future.

"I think as we look going forward, we believe in autonomy in general, but I think we want to make sure we're investing in autonomy as efficiently as possible. And there's a number of conversations that we're having with partners that I think just allows us to manage that investment more wisely," the CEO said about future funding plans for the unit. However, she did not name the partners that the company is currently engaging with for investment in Cruise.

Why It Matters: Cruise posted an operating loss of $417 million in the three months through the end of September, lower than the $807 million loss recorded in the corresponding period of last year. GM has spent $583 million on restructuring Cruise this year.

In July, the company also said that it is abandoning its plans to build the Origin autonomous vehicle and instead focussing on using its next-generation Chevrolet Bolt for autonomous driving operations.

"This addresses the regulatory uncertainty we faced with the Origin because of its unique design. In addition, per-unit costs will be much lower, which will help Cruise optimize its resources," Barra said about the decision then.

Price Action: GM shares rallied 9.8% on Tuesday to close at $53.73, but edged slightly lower by 0.43% in after-hours trading. Year-to-date, GM's stock has surged 49%, according to Benzinga Pro data.

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Photo courtesy: GM