Cruise gets state permit to offer driverless taxis
The permit allows Cruise to offer paid passenger service on certain San Francisco streets outside the downtown area.
California regulators on Thursday issued a first-of-its-kind permit to robot-taxi company Cruise, which will make San Francisco the first major city in the country in which people can hail a paid ride from a driverless taxi, officials said.
The California Public Utilities Commission voted unanimously Thursday to grant Cruise its permit, more than six months after the San Francisco-based company first applied to be able to charge for rides in its autonomous vehicles, without a backup driver. The company has been offering free driverless rides since February and will begin rolling out paid rides in its 30 electric vehicles in the coming weeks, officials said.
“Crossing the threshold into commercial operations isn’t just big news for Cruise alone. It is a major milestone for the shared mission of the AV industry to improve life in our cities,” Cruise COO Gil West said in a blog post Thursday. “We’re grateful to the CPUC for their thoughtful review and approval of our application, and we’ll continue our close coordination with regulators and community stakeholders as we expand our service and improve our product.”
The permit allows Cruise, an autonomous vehicle spin-off from General Motors, to offer paid passenger service on certain San Francisco streets outside the downtown area between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., when congestion and pedestrian and bike traffic are low.
Cruise’s driverless vehicles would not be allowed to exceed 30 miles per hour or operate under heavy rain, snow or fog. The company is not allowed to offer shared rides for passengers from different groups, officials said.
“This is another exciting step for our autonomous vehicle program,” said CPUC President Alice Reynolds in a statement. “I look forward to further public engagement on the safe and equitable deployment of these innovative services as they mature through future reports and workshops.”