Autonomous vehicle makers General Motors and Alphabet Inc. can now collect fares from passengers of self-driving cars in California.
The state's Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) this week gave the green light for GM's Cruise and Alphabet's Waymo to charge for rides in autonomous vehicles—with safety drivers present.
Driverless cabs have been roaming California's streets for years, testing features and giving free lifts to willing travelers. However, newly issued "Drivered Deployment" permits allow the firms to actually generate income from their services.
According to Reuters, Cruise can use "some public roads" in San Francisco between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. at speeds of up to 30 mph. Waymo, meanwhile, may operate in parts of San Francisco and San Mateo counties at speeds as high as 65 mph. Neither is allowed out during heavy fog or heavy rain.
The announcement is "another positive incremental step forward," Prashanthi Raman, Cruise's vice president for global government affairs, said in a statement to Reuters. "Our mission has always been to launch a driverless commercial ride-hail service here in San Francisco, and that's what we'll continue working with our regulators to deliver."
Waymo, which has employed driverless taxis in Phoenix since 2018, plans to apply what it's learned in Arizona "to our growing service in San Francisco," the company told Reuters. Following an August tester program in California, Waymo claims it has a waitlist "tens of thousands of riders" long. "We'll begin offering paid trips through the program in the coming weeks," the company said.
Neither Waymo nor Cruise immediately responded to PCMag's request for comment.