Cruise, owned by General Motors, is the first and only U.S. service to be approved for the commercial use of self-driving taxis. It will be possible to ride for money in a car without a driver in San Francisco.
To go into details , Cruise will be able to operate paid passenger transportation at a maximum speed of 30 miles per hour on certain streets in San Francisco from 10 pm to 6 am. The fleet is expected to consist of 30 electric vehicles. Cars are not allowed to drive on highways or during heavy fog and rain.
The company first received permission to offer free robot taxi rides to passengers almost exactly a year ago. The first passengers started using Cruise in February this year, writes Reuters .
In March, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) allowed Cruise (and Waymo) to start charging passengers, but only for chauffeur-driven trips. Cruise can now charge customers even when no one is on board.
Police officers in San Francisco stopped Cruise’s self-driving taxi for violating rules, but could not do anything