California authorities on Thursday authorized the expansion of self-driving taxi services offered by Waymo and Cruise in San Francisco.
After the California Public Utilities Commission heard 6 hours of public comment related to these vehicles, it approved by a 3-to-1 vote to allow Alphabet's Waymo (Google's parent company) and General Motors' Cruise. operate self-driving taxis 24 hours a day in San Francisco.
"The first step among many has been made to provide self-driving taxi services to Californians, and to demonstrate a successful and transparent model that other states can follow," said Commissioner John Reynolds, who voted to expand the services of these vehicles.
Waymo vehicles were allowed to travel at speeds of up to 65 mph (105 kph) without anyone behind the wheel, even when the weather was unstable.
As for the "Cruise" company, it was allowed to activate passenger service in San Francisco with trips at speeds not exceeding 35 miles (65 kilometers) per hour, while it was not allowed to operate vehicles when the fog and smoke were thick.
Cruise was only allowed to charge customers who used its autonomous vehicles between 10pm and 6am. It was not possible for Waymo to charge a fee for flights without a human driver on board.
Self-driving cars were first introduced in San Francisco in 2014, with a person in the vehicle required as a "precautionary measure".
Four years later, California removed the requirement that a human driver be in the car.
Source : French
