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In brief Self-driving car startups Cruise and Waymo are one step closer to launching commercial autonomous taxi fleets in California after the US state’s Department of Motor Vehicles granted them both relevant permits. Cruise has been given permission to operate “light-duty” self-driving cabs on San Francisco’s roads between the hours of 2200 and 0600 PT. They can only drive at a maximum speed of 30 miles per hour and when the rain and fog aren’t too heavy. Waymo can also drive its self-driving taxi fleet in San Francisco plus San Mateo; its cars are allowed to go faster, up to 65 miles per hour, meaning they can drive on highways. Again, they can only operate up to light rain and light fog, and no hours of operation were specified. The vehicles have to be capable of performing with Level 3 autonomy or higher. Both upstarts still need to be approved by the California Public Utilities Commission before they can roll out their self-driving taxi services, according to the DMV.
