Cruise Becomes First to Secure California Permit for Driverless Passenger Rides
Cruise earns a historic permit from California regulators to transport passengers in fully driverless vehicles. However, the company still needs additional approvals before it can charge for these robotaxi rides.
Cruise, the General Motors self-driving subsidiary backed by major tech investors, receives a groundbreaking permit from the California Public Utilities Commission. This approval allows the company to transport passengers in fully driverless test vehicles without a human safety operator behind the wheel. Cruise stands as the very first company to secure this specific driverless passenger permit in the state.
Despite this major milestone, the new permit does not allow Cruise to charge money for the rides. To launch a commercial robotaxi service and generate revenue, the company still needs to obtain separate deployment permits from both the California DMV and the CPUC. The regulatory pathway in California requires companies to navigate a complex web of testing and deployment approvals across these two distinct agencies.
Currently, several autonomous vehicle companies hold various testing permits, but only Nuro achieves the final DMV deployment permit for commercial-scale operations. Because Nuro only carries cargo, it bypasses the CPUC entirely. Cruise now holds the crucial driverless passenger testing permit from the CPUC, but it continues to wait on those final deployment authorizations before it can officially launch a paid, public service.