Cruise's fleet is made up of battery-powered cars and does not have human backup drivers.
SAN FRANCISCO -- Autonomous vehicle taxis are up and running in San Francisco and the public has been invited to try one out.
Employees of General Motors and its autonomous vehicle subsidiary Cruise have been testing out the service for weeks, but on Tuesday Cruise posted a signup page for anyone to reserve a free ride in one. The cars each have unique monikers, including"Tostada,""Disco" and"Sourdough." In a blog post Tuesday, Interim Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt said the company is the first to offer driverless taxis in a major U.S. city and that the milestone triggered an $1.35 billion investment from Softbank, which had already put $900 million into the company.Vogt said the additional capital will allow the company to grow its work force and scale up the driverless technology in San Francisco and into other cities.
Cruise says it is the only autonomous vehicle company permitted to offer rides to the public in driverless cars. It also says it's the only company to apply for a permit to charge for the rides, though that hasn't yet been approved. It's not clear when they expect to be fully operational and charging for rides.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
GM's Cruise now offers public driverless taxi rides in San Francisco | EngadgetGM's Cruise is now offering driverless taxi rides to the public in San Francisco, although you'll need to sign up for a chance at a free trip..
Read more »
GM-Backed Cruise Launches Driverless Ride Service In San FranciscoThe General Motors-backed tech company is kicking off its long-awaited robotaxi service in San Francisco.
Read more »
Photos: Highlights of San Francisco 49ers heartbreaking loss to Los Angeles Rams in NFC ChampionshipThe San Francisco 49ers season came to a crushing end on Sunday as they blew a 10-point fourth quarter lead.
Read more »
Los Angeles and San Francisco football rivalry is super fun for fansSplit fan loyalties were the order of the day as the football rivals battled it out for a chance to play in Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium i
Read more »
San Francisco Chinatown's SRO residents can't avoid COVID outbreaks'From December to January, the COVID cases in our housing is over 600 cases, so that's over 1,000% increase, which is a really concerning trend,' SF Standard reporter Li said.
Read more »