San Francisco allows commercial operation of self-driving cars from GM and Google

City of San Francisco, California August 10 approved commercial operation of self-driving vehicles from Waymo (a division of Alphabet) and Cruise (a division of General Motors). The vote in the city council was preceded by seven-hour hearings, during which supporters and opponents of unmanned taxis, public organizations, and experts spoke.

Opponents spoke about the threat to jobs in taxi companies and the unpredictable consequences of operating unmanned taxis, both from a legal point of view and for road and passenger safety. In turn, defenders argue that tests of unmanned taxis on public roads have shown that they drive much safer than cars with a driver.

In the end, the San Francisco City Public Utilities Commission approved the commercial operation of self-driving taxis from two competing companies by a three-to-one majority. So San Francisco became the first city in the United States where two companies will carry out round-the-clock commercial operation of unmanned taxis on public roads. Now Cruise and Waymo will be able to provide their self-driving cars to carsharing services, competing with taxi services such as Uber and Lyft.

Evgeniy Khvostik