San Francisco approves GM's Cruise to give driverless taxi rides overnight
Self-driving ride-hailing service can now operate n the city
Cruise is going to be ghost riding into the night.
The General Motors-owned autonomous ride-hailing service has been granted a permit by San Francisco to begin offering rides to the public in it driverless vehicles.
The permit allows Cruise to operate a fleet of 30 vehicles within a set zone they have been optimized for, but only between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. for the time being, in order to reduce the probability for accidents.
A Cruise spokesman told FOX Business that it will start charging for rides within the next couple of weeks.
Cruise currently uses modified versions of the Chevrolet Bolt EV. (Cruise)
The service works via an app like Uber or Lyft and has been open to employees and their friends and family members since the beginning of the year in a private test program meant to demonstrate safety.
GM CEO Mary Barra went for a ride in a driverless Cruise this winter. (Cruise)
General Motors CEO Mary Barra has even taken a trip around town, one that she described as "surreal."
GM is developing the Cruise Origin microbus to be used with the service. (Cruise)
Cruise competitor Waymo has already been running a driverless ride-hailing program in the Phoenix suburbs, but Cruise is the first to get approval to operate a commercial service in a dense urban center.
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Ford-backed Argo AI in May announced that it is offering rides without a human backup driver to employees in Austin, Texas, and Miami, where it is developing its technology.