Waymo, Cruise Win Approval for 24/7 Paid Services in San Francisco

A Waymo car service. (Waymo)

Waymo and Cruise have won approval from California state regulators to charge fees for 24-hour service fully driverless car rides in San Francisco.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) voted 3 to 1 in favor on Aug. 10 to allow the expansion of automated car services after evaluating whether they had met state licensing requirements and hearing several hours of public testimony.

The CPUC previously only allowed Cruise, which is owned by General Motors, to charge for rides between 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. without a safety driver present and at all hours with a driver present..

Before the vote, Google’s Waymo was only allowed to take passengers with a safety driver in the vehicle.

The decision was the final hurdle before both companies’ could offer their services full time throughout the Bay Area.

The commissioners voted after listening to public concerns about the safety of autonomous vehicles (AVs) and to testimonies about how they could help the elderly and the disabled to be more independent.

CPUC president Alice Reynolds and commissioners Darcie Houck and John Reynolds voted in favor of the expansion, according to The San Francisco Standard.

“While we do not yet have the data to judge AVs against the standard human drivers are setting, I do believe in the potential of this technology to increase safety on the roadway,” Mr. Reynolds said in a statement.

Commissioner Genevieve Shiroma was the only one to vote against it, arguing that she did not have enough information to evaluate the impact of autonomous vehicles on first responders.

Automated Car Companies Ready to Expand Services

Meanwhile, Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt said his company would continue working with regulators to achieve their shared goal to deliver “safer, cleaner, and more accessible transportation options.”

Mr. Vogt posted on social media after CPUC’s approval that he was “thrilled to announce that the California Public Utilities Commission just approved Cruise for fared operation 24/7 across all of San Francisco!”

“It’s a huge milestone for the AV industry, but even more importantly a signal to the country that California prioritizes progress over our tragic status quo,” he added.

Cruise director of global government affairs Prashanthi Raman called the decision a “historic industry milestone, adding that the company will continue to work closely with our regulators, first responders, and other key stakeholders as we expand our service to more people.”

Waymo announced in a press release, that it would “gradually welcom[e] more riders into the service” and “begin charging fares for rider-only trips in the city” in the coming weeks.”

The company’s co-CEO, Tekedra Mawakana, called the decision “the true beginning” of its commercial transport operations in the city.

The car service said it has 100,000 signups in its wait list and expects demand to be “incredibly high,” but wants to expand its services gradually to ensure reliability before it makes its fully autonomous rides “available to everyone over time.”

Waymo is currently operating 250 vehicles, while Cruise is running 300 cars at night and 100 during the day throughout the city.

However, both firms refused to specify how many vehicles would be deployed after receiving approval, but that additions to their operating fleets would be incremental.

Local Officials Still Consider Driverless Vehicles a Nuisance

Many San Francisco officials had complained about driverless vehicles causing havoc in the city for months, calling them a safety hazard.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) reported nearly 600 known incidents involving driverless vehicles in San Francisco since June 2022.

Various incidents included problems, like automated vehicles stopping unexpectedly, interfering with bus routes, or colliding with other vehicles and objects, etc.

The San Francisco Fire Department recorded 55 incidents involving self-driving cars with emergency responders this year, reported The San Francisco Chronicle.

Cruise admitted during the hearing that it had to retrieve stalled automated taxis 177 times between January and July 18, while Waymo said it had rescued 58 vehicles between January and June 30.

The city’s fire chief, Jeanine Nicholson, called the companies’ response times to retrieve stalled vehicles too long and that “it is the responsibility of the autonomous vehicle companies to not have them impact us in the first place.”

A disability advocates urged California regulators in July to allow self-driving car companies to receive payments for their around-the-clock services in San Francisco.

The group said that the automated vehicles were safer and more accessible than traditional ride-hailing services and expected that regulatory approval would encourage expanded services.