Autonomous Vehicle News
Following a contentious state agency vote, Alphabet Inc’s Waymo and General Motors’ Cruise are allowed to take paying passengers day or night throughout San Francisco, solidifying the tech hub as the centre of the autonomous vehicle (AV) industry. They collectively have more than 500 autonomous vehicles already in operation. The move is a critical step forward in regulating the robot cars, which Waymo, Cruise and others have been systematically rolling out in cities and states around the nation. The approval “marks the true beginning of our commercial operations in San Francisco,” said Tekedra Mawakana, Waymo co-CEO, in a prepared statement. Cruise and Waymo will now also operate in direct competition with local companies Uber and Lyft in offering rides summoned by app.