Is The Day Of The Taxi Driver Coming To An End - Taxis Without Drivers Given Approval In California

16th August 2023

They're finally here. Paid driverless taxis got the green light last week from California regulators. Soon, Waymo and Cruise will start charging San Francisco passengers for rides in a car with no driver, at any time of day or night.

It's easy to forget how far-fetched this would have seemed even a few years ago, when Uber Technologies Inc. sold off its embattled self-driving unit and most autonomous cars struggled to make left turns. But gradually, General Motors Co.'s Cruise and Alphabet Inc.'s Waymo and built out their self-driving fleets in San Francisco. Previously, the companies could offer driverless rides for free across the city, but only Cruise could charge for rides and under limited circumstances.

Now, both companies will be able to offer self-driving taxis 24/7 to the paying public, clearing the way to make robotaxis a real business. Though many hurdles remain to mass adoption, the City by the Bay will soon become a test case for a new kind of transportation business model.

Source
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-08-11/google-s-waymo-cruise-get-nod-to-expand-san-francisco-robotaxis

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