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The California Department of Motor Vehicles on Thursday approved autonomous vehicle deployment permits for Cruise and Alphabet’s Waymo backed by GM. It allows businesses to collect a fee and receive compensation for stand-alone services offered to the public, such as carpooling, in certain areas.
Businesses still need approval from the California Public Utilities Commission, according to the California DMV, but that means businesses are one step closer to providing services to the general public outside of a testing program.
The two companies have tested autonomous vehicle fleets in California with licenses that allow free driverless trips to passengers in test vehicles.
Under the new authorization, cruise vehicles can operate on public roads in designated parts of San Francisco between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., including in light rain or light fog, but cannot exceed 30 miles per hour, the department said. Waymo can operate its fleet in parts of San Francisco and San Mateo counties at speeds of 65 mph or less, including in rain or light fog.
Bringing autonomous vehicles to market has been much more difficult than many anticipated just a few years ago, but Waymo and Cruise are considered two of the pioneers.
In May, Waymo and Cruise applied for permits to begin charging for rides and delivery. Cruise asked not to have a security driver, while Waymo asked for a security driver, Reuters reported.
In June, Cruise was granted a license to offer driverless rides to test vehicle passengers in California. Waymo last month opened self-driving car testing to some San Francisco residents through a program dubbed “Trusted Tester.”
Since acquiring Cruise in 2016, GM has brought in investors such as Honda Motor, SoftBank Vision Fund and, most recently, Walmart and Microsoft.
“Today’s approval by the California DMV makes Cruise the first autonomous transportation company to receive a driverless deployment license in the state. This brings us closer to achieving our mission of making transport safer, better and more affordable in cities with our fleet of fully electric, autonomous and shared vehicles ”, Rob Grant, senior vice president of government affairs and social impact at Cruise, said in an emailed statement to CNBC.
In December 2020, Nuro became the first developer of autonomous vehicles to receive a license to make commercial deliveries with commercial partners.
– Lora Kolodny contributed to this report
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