The California Public Utilities Commission, by a 3-1 vote, has approved permits for expansion of robotaxi operation, in spite of opposition from officials in the city of San Francisco. New services include:
- Cruise can operate all day in SF instead of just at night. During the day, they must have a safety driver present to charge a fare.
- Waymo can do full operations on SF streets, day or night, safety driver or not, charging fares.
- Waymo can give rides for free in parts of Los Angeles and the area around Mountain View, with or without safety driver.
Commissioner Shiroma was the only opponent to the permits. Commissioner Douglas was absent.
The vote came after a grueling long day of public presentations, which included large numbers of people who lined up to speak both for and against the robotaxis. (Samplings of the public in this way provide no data on proportion of sentiment, but numbers seemed fairly even. Waymo and Cruise made one request on their mailing lists to suggest riders give their support, there were also organized campaigns from some unions and Uber/taxi drivers, as well as reps for the disabled. It is unlikely the public comment held much sway over the commissioners.)
Commissioner J. Reynolds, who previously was counsel for Cruise, did not recuse.
Waymo announced it will be promoting many riders from their long waitlist, which has over 100,000 people on it, but only slowly over time.
Generally both companies seem to have made a good number of fans and foes within the city. This is not unexpected — public backlash to this sort of change, and any labor disruption was anticipated even before either project got started. This does not mean the complaints of some opponents are invalid or should not be addressed by the companies. Some advocates for the disabled felt that while the companies have promised great service for them, it is yet to arrive. There were cyclists on both sides, and unions on both sides. The efforts of the fire department to derail the permits seem to have had minimal effect.
No details have been released on service in Silicon Valley or Los Angeles.
In other notes, Waymo confirms that an incident reported Monday by the SF Fire Department where a vehicle stopped at a car fire was one of their vehicles. SFFD reported the vehicle parked between the fire truck and the burning car and needed to be moved manually. Waymo indicates this happened because a second fire truck arrived in the oncoming direction, limiting its movement. It was unoccupied, and the fire department did not request manual movement until after the fire was put out, according to Waymo sources.
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