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

Regulators 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. With this new approval, Waymo vehicles will be allowed to operate at speed of up to 65 mph (104 km/h) and in inclement weather, while Cruise vehicles will be limited to 35 mph (56 km/h) and will not be allowed to operate when weather conditions do not permit, according to Reuters.

This approval for self-driving taxis came despite vigorous opposition from residents’ groups and city agencies, along with transportation and safety agencies such as police and fire departments which opposed the expansion of robotaxi services due to concerns for erratic driving and interference with their own operations.

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.

The approval came from a 3-1 vote in favour of robotaxis, following a seven-hour meeting in San Francisco from hundreds of people in support of and against the proposals, according to The Washington Post.

Commissioner Genevieve Shiroma cast the sole opposing vote, and advocated for a delayed vote given the volume of public comment, and cited concerns following evidence that the vehicles have obstructed emergency vehicles in San Francisco.

With the approval, Waymo and Cruise plan to deploy more self-driving cars; combined, both firms have more than 500 autonomous vehicles in operation. Prior to the approval by the commission, both Waymo and Cruise have been running services on an experimental basis, within time and geographic limits inside San Francisco.

“While we don’t yet have the data to judge AVs [autonomous vehicles] against the standard that humans are setting, I do believe in the potential of this technology to increase safety on the roadway,” commissioner John Reynolds said ahead of approving the expansion of robotaxi operations in the state.

Reynolds is also a former managing counsel at Cruise, The Washington Post reported. “Today is the first of many steps in bringing autonomous vehicle transportation services to Californians, and setting a successful and transparent model for other states to follow,” Reynolds was quoted as saying.

On the opposing side, the city is ‘likely’ to file for a rehearing, which would be a prior step before litigation against the commission, said San Francisco Board of Supervisors president Aaron Peskin, who said he will be meeting with members of the city’s transportation agencies to “discuss next steps”.

Beyond Waymo and Cruise, the two companies with the largest self-driving taxi fleet in the state, Apple also has autonomous vehicles testing on public roads in California, citing data from 2022, The Washington Post wrote. Meanwhile, Zoox, under Amazon has a fleet of around 100 cars.

Looking to sell your car? Sell it with Carro.