The California Public Utilities Commission voted on Thursday 3-to-1 in favor of Alphabet’s Waymo and General Motors’ Cruise to expand their self-driving taxi services to operate at all hours throughout San Francisco
Waymo and General Motors’ Cruise are allowed to take paying passengers day or night throughout San Francisco, solidifying the tech hub as the center of the autonomous vehicle industry. It marks a significant step forward for the nascent technology.
The companies now have permission to begin citywide paid taxi service at all hours of the day and have said they plan to deploy more cars as a result. They collectively have more than 500 autonomous vehicles already in operation. The approval “marks the true beginning of our commercial operations in San Francisco,” said Tekedra Mawakana, Waymo co-CEO, in a prepared statement. It puts "Cruise in a position to compete with traditional ridehail, and challenge an unsafe, inaccessible transportation status quo," said Prashanthi Raman, Cruise vice president of global government affairs, in an emailed statement.
The companies, who applied with the commission for permits to expand taxi service, have said their vehicles are safer than distractible human drivers and have yet to cause a life-threatening injury or death.in offering rides summoned by app.
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