California Issues Permits To Cruise, Waymo For Autonomous Vehicle Service

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on Monday issued permits to self-driving units of General Motors and Alphabet to allow for passenger service in autonomous vehicles with safety drivers present. Reuters reports: CPUC said the GM unit Cruise and Alphabet’s Waymo are under Drivered Deployment permits authorized to collect fares from passengers and may offer shared rides. Prior to the announcement Cruise and Waymo had been permitted to provide passenger service only on a testing basis with no fare collection permitted.

Starting Monday, Cruise is allowed to provide the “Drivered Deployment” service on some public roads in San Francisco between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. at speeds of up to 30 miles per hour, while Waymo can offer service in parts of San Francisco and San Mateo counties at speeds of up to 65 miles per hour, CPUC said. Neither company is allowed to operate during heavy fog or heavy rain. […] Waymo said it has tens of thousands of riders on a waitlst in California after it launched a tester program in August. “We’ll begin offering paid trips through the program in the coming weeks,” the company said.