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GM’s Cruise Robotaxi Service Allowed To Expand In California

The CEO of GM autonomous vehicle (AV) and robotaxi subsidiary Cruise, Kyle Vogt, announced in a tweet that the California Public Utilities Commission has signed off on allowing paid Cruise AV driverless taxi service throughout San Francisco.

The robotaxi service will be permitted 24 hours a day, seven days a week according to the Cruise executive, a fact many news services have confirmed and elaborated on.

A potential customer approaching a Cruise AV.

In a three-to-one decision on Thursday, August 10th, the California Public Utilities Commission voted in favor of allowing both Cruise and rival AV taxi service Waymo (previously Google’s self-driving car project) to run their vehicles continuous on Frisco streets. A seven-hour public meeting, during which many argued both for and against the technology, preceded the Commission’s vote.

The vote overrules the objections of many San Franciscans who view the Cruise and other EVs in testing either as traffic jam-causing nuisances foisted on their city by “Big Tech” or potential economic disruptors amplifying the claimed negative effects of Uber and Lyft. Meanwhile, other residents enthusiastically support the decision.

The entire driverless robotaxi process has been carried out without direct popular voting on the issue. The California Department of Motor Vehicles and other state agencies gave the initial green light to Cruise and dozens of other companies and startups to use San Francisco as an AV testbed without a public vote. The latest decision, despite allowing ordinary citizens to air their opinions – sometimes heatedly – followed the same pattern, with only the government commissioners voting on the outcome.

A Cruise AV operating in daytime.

Previous to Thursday, Cruise and Waymo could only operate in designated neighborhoods at specific hours, with some providers allowed to offer only free rides. Now, the driverless vehicles can roam the whole city, day and night, accepting fares like any other taxi.

The decision is noted as a major advance toward more widespread approval and use of autonomous vehicles. Proponents hail the change as a way to make transport more available to elderly and disabled people, increasing their independence, while Kyle Vogt struck a dramatic note by describing it as “a signal to the country that [California] prioritizes progress over our tragic status quo.”

The Cruise Origin in human-driven testing.

Cruise has rapidly rolled out testing of its AVs to new cities over the last year, recently adding its seventh, Nashville, and its eighth, Atlanta, Georgia to the list. It current total of operational driverless vehicles on public streets is somewhere around 400, with cost per mile gradually approaching the “magic number” of less than a dollar.

The AV subsidiary is currently awaiting NHTSA approval for its purpose-built Cruise Origin driverless vehicle, an efficient model designed for mass production and the economies of scale needed to make Cruise a significant financial success.

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Comments

  1. Kyle Vogt struck a dramatic note by describing it as “a signal to the country that [California] prioritizes progress over our tragic status quo.”

    Does California allowing people to deficate in the streets and steal from the stores considered “progress” as well? To me this is “tragic”, not the allowance of people wanting to own and commandeer their own vehicles.

    Reply
    1. I agree it is tragic. I saw the interview with Vogt in it. Seems like all he does as CEO is try to get license to operate the AV in California especially testing the thing in San Franscisco. There have been numerous accidents with these ROBOT CARS.

      Reply
      1. Voht is a clown. He should put his money where his mouth is. If these drones are so wonderful, demonstrate it by having his family- from babies to grandparents- use them as their only means of transportation. Make sure they use the drones alone and with no assistance, and have their kids wait for them on the street. I’m sure this won’t happen because like anything else, it’s OK when other people are inconvenienced and potentially harmed as long as it’s not their families.

        Reply
      2. They are a menace and should be outlawed

        Reply
  2. Until the Cruise Robotaxi Service comes to New York it is just a one pony trick show. Come on Cruise to the Big Apple to show people that you are not just blowing smoke.

    Reply
  3. Keep them in Crazyfornia

    Reply
  4. People worry about EV’s, but the AV is the true collapse of mankind.

    Reply
    1. Its just another example of the wussification of America. Don’t drive that bad car, you may get hurt! It’s better to be driven around like a parcel on a UPS truck not having to think at all.

      Reply
  5. AV statutory approvals are hard to get and so Cruise, Waymo, etc need to show their appreciation of the approvals by growing their robotaxi fleets as fast as they can.

    Reply
    1. So more people can shoot up and have sex in them per the article in the San Francisco Standard? Or so they can create more havoc in the streets the taxpayers pay for?

      Reply
  6. The answer to everything these days. Dumb down, throw endless amounts of money at it and more and more tech and complication.

    Reply

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