This is the first time such a grant has been awarded in the state.
The permit has been granted to the Cruise company, which is owned by automaker General Motors. This is despite safety concerns regarding the company’s inability to pick up and drop off roadside passengers in driverless cars. Instead, company cars have to double park in the lane.
Initially, the driverless taxi fleet will consist of 30 cars. They are restricted to transporting people in less busy parts of the city between 22 and 6 a.m.
The goal is to minimize the risk of a driverless vehicle causing damage, injury or death, if something goes wrong. The restrictions also provide an opportunity for the authorities to assess how the technology works in practice before broader permits are granted.
Cruise and another company developing a similar service, Waymo, had previously carried passengers in parts of San Francisco, but then with drivers in cars who could intervene if something went wrong with driverless technology.
Uber also has such plans, but sold its self-driving technology to the company Aurora in 2020. Tesla announced self-driving taxis in late 2020, which hasn’t happened yet, but promised that it would be implemented later.
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