California approves self-driving taxis; San Francisco to allow 24/7 paid autonomous taxi service operations

In International News, Technology / By Mick Chan / 17 August 2023 11:18 am / 2 commentsRegulators in California, United States voted to allow self-driving taxi operators Waymo and Cruise to offer 24-hour, seven-day paid taxi services in San Francisco, Reuters has reported. Waymo is the autonomous vehicle division under Google, while Cruise partnered with General Motors along with Microsoft to expedite the commercialisation of autonomous vehicles. The California Public Utilities Commission ruled in favour of the autonomous taxi companies’ round-the-clock operation. Meanwhile, in favour of the approval for the expansion of self-driving taxi operations were technologists and like-minded residents, saying the self-driving vehicles were a safer alternative to human drivers and are a critical boost to the San Francisco economy, the report wrote. With the approval, Waymo and Cruise plan to deploy more self-driving cars; combined, both firms have more than 500 autonomous vehicles in operation.