Cruise Permitted To Charge Passengers For Fully Driverless Rides In San Francisco

Cruise receives first-ever Driverless Deployment Permit, which allows it charge for fully driverless rides in San Francisco.

With this permit, Cruise can now charge a fare for the driverless rides, one without any safety driver behind the wheel.

For now, Cruise is allowed to operate its paid service at a max speed of 30 mph on select streets from 10pm to 6am.

Also, Cruise Robotaxi aren’t allowed to operate on highways as well as during times of heavy fog and rain.

Cruise LLC, the self-driving division of General Motors, has become the first company to operate a commercial, driverless ridehail service in a major U.S. city after securing the first-ever Driverless Deployment Permit granted by the California Public Utilities Commission.

With this permit, Cruise can now charge a fare for the driverless rides – one without any safety driver behind the wheel – that it provides to members of the public in San Francisco.

While announcing the rolling out of fared rides, Gil West, Chief Operating Officer, said :

“It is a major milestone for the shared mission of the AV industry to improve life in our cities. And it’s a giant leap for our mission here at Cruise to save lives, help save the planet, and save people time and money.”

For now, Cruise is allowed to operate its paid passenger service at a max speed of 30 mph on select streets of San Francisco from 10pm to 6am.

Also, its Robotaxi aren’t allowed to operate on highways and during times of heavy fog and rain.

• See Also : Police In U.S Stop Cruise Self-driving Car And Finds Nobody Inside (Video)

But Cruise spokesperson told TechCrunch that the company will expand its operating domain and well as its hours of operation in the coming months.

“In the coming months, we’ll expand our operating domain, our hours of operation and our ability to charge members of the public for driverless rides until we have fared rides 24/7 across the entire city.”

Cruise first received permission to offer passengers free robotaxi rides almost exactly a year ago. But the company opened its fully driverless ride-hailing to the public this February.

Cruise and Waymo got permission from CPUC in March to start charging their passengers, but only for rides with a safety driver behind the wheel. But now, Cruise can charge customers even if there is no safety driver onboard.

• See Also : Baidu’s Fleet Of 67 Driverless ‘Robotaxis’ Have Started Taking Paying Customers In Beijing (Video)