LONDON: The US have given approval for the first commercial fleet of driverless taxis in California, with taxi service Cruise getting the go-ahead to offer rides in San Francisco.
It is the first time an autonomous ride-hailing service has been allowed to charge for rides that will have no other people in them besides the passengers in the state.
Cruise's initial fleet of 30 electric cars will be limited to driving passengers in less congested parts of San Francisco between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m, to minimize chances of property damage, injuries or death if something goes wrong.
It will also allow regulators from California's Public Utilities Commission to assess how the technology works before allowing the service to expand.
Cruise, controlled by General Motors, had been offering free, driverless rides in the city since February of this year, alongside another robotic car pioneer, Waymo, but to charge passengers, a human driver had previously been required to take control if something were to go wrong with the technology.
“This means that Cruise will be the first and only company to operate a commercial, driverless ride-hail service in a major US city,” chief operating officer Gil West said in a blog post late Thursday.
“We'll begin rolling out fared rides gradually,” he added.
