Full autonomous ride-hailing services coming to San Francisco with State PUC’s approval

(SAN FRANCISCO) California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) approved permits on August 10 for two autonomous vehicle (AV) companies, Cruise and Waymo, to charge fares at any time for passenger service in San Francisco. The approval has made San Francisco the first city in California to provide full AV ride-hailing services.

According to Waymo's reply to Wind Newspaper, Waymo would begin its full commercial passenger service using driverless vehicles in San Francisco starting on August 21. Riders may register for service online via Waymo's app.

"We began charging for Waymo One trips across San Francisco Monday, August 21. We alerted our thousands of public riders last week to give them adequate notice about this transition, and we look forward to welcoming new riders in the weeks to come," Waymo spokesperson said.

Cruise issued a statement after CPUS's approval. “Offering a commercial, 24/7 driverless ride hail service across San Francisco is a historic industry milestone –– putting Cruise in a position to compete with traditional ride hail, and challenge an unsafe, inaccessible transportation status quo. We’re grateful to the CPUC for their leadership, and will continue to work closely with our regulators, first responders, and other key stakeholders as we expand our service to more people,” Prashanthi Raman, Vice President of Global Government Affairs of Cruise, wrote.

Members of the disability community and unions held a rally on August 10 before CPUC’s meeting to vote on the expansion of two autonomous vehicle companies’ ride-hailing services. They spoke in support of the expansion and believed the autonomous car technology would end drunk driving and save more lives on the roads.

There have been some oppositions in the expansion of AV services in San Francisco. Six days after the CPUC gave a green light to both AV ride hailing service companies, San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu filed an administrative motion on August 16 with the CPUC to pause the decision to allow the expansion of AV for commercial use in San Francisco with no limitations on geographic area, service hours, or fleet size.

"Over the last year, there have been numerous reports of poor AV performance creating safety hazards and interfering with first responder operations, public transit, street construction workers, and the flow of traffic, " Chiu said in a statement. "This uptick will inevitably lead to an increase in traffic congestion and the number of dangerous incidents."

“We have seen that this technology is not yet ready, and poor AV performance has interfered with the life-saving operations of first responders," Chiu said.

Aaron Peskin, Chair of the San Francisco County Transportation Authority Board and President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, joined in the opposition. "San Francisco seeks an immediate stay of the CPUC’s approval of unrestricted driverless AV passenger services in our city. The risks and impacts of this decision should not continue to be borne by our residents and visitors while we seek redress from the Commission’s misguided action,” said Peskin.

Prior to CPUC's approval on August 10, both companies have permits with AV operation in San Francisco and other areas with specific limitations.

Cruise was authorized to offer fared passenger service in limited areas of San Francisco from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. without a safety driver present, fared passenger service throughout San Francisco at any time with a safety driver present, and non-fared passenger service throughout San Francisco at any time without a safety driver present.

Waymo was authorized to offer fared passenger service throughout San Francisco at any time with a safety driver present and non-fared passenger service throughout San Francisco at any time without a safety driver present.

In addition to San Francisco, Waymo started its first fared passenger services in Phoenix in May 2023. Waymo is also authorized to offer non-fared passenger service in parts of Los Angeles and in and around Mountain View with or without a safety driver present.

Within the Chinese community, some members would like to see more restrictions before the technology is fully matured.

"I have to plead to a certain amount of ignorance regarding for-hire driverless vehicles at this time. I am not familiar with what type of electronics or artificial intelligence which run these vehicles. I do know, however, that they continue to pose both a safety risk and a traffic problem at this time and are not ready for expanded use," said Phil Chin, former Deputy Director of San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni) and founder of Chinatown TRIP.

"Being first to introduce intelligent vehicle service into full operation should also mean having a system that is fully vetted and tested. That does not appear to be the case with what is going on in the city with these robo-taxis. They should be fully suspended until they are completely de-bugged," Chin added.

"The AV services have not been ready yet in San Francisco based on my observation everyday in the early mornings on the roads," said Sandy Weng who owns a flower shop in Chinatown and drives to pick up flowers at 5am everyday.

"I have seen autonomous vehicles affect the traffic flow due to their slow reactions to the roadside situation," Weng continued. "It is still premature to fully open up the market for both companies."

"Technology and innovation can improve quality of life and safety. I believe that AV is safer than human drivers. At least the technology could reduce the number of lives lost in drunk driving related collisions." said William Liu, a Chinatown worker who support the autonomous vehicle service. "We can limit the number of AV for full service in the beginning to let it slowly expand."