California Expands Autonomous Rideshare Services in Bay Area For GM’s Cruise, Alphabet’s Waymo

The California Public Utilities Commission expanded the driverless rideshare market on Monday by issuing Drivered Deployment permits to General Motors’ Cruise service and Alphabet’s Waymo service.

Since the 2010’s, multiple driverless car companies have fought to become the first driverless ride service carrier in California. In June of last year, after years of setbacks from all companies, Cruise became the first to have a limited passenger service be approved by CPUC and the DMV. Waymo eventually caught up later that year, with Cruise then getting a major backlash in December with the San Francisco transportation agency raising multiple concerns about it despite already operating on a limited capacity in the Phoenix area. Other driverless startups such as Pony.ai have also featured setbacks since late 2021.