The employees of Cruise, its self-driving subsidiary General Motors, will be the first to be able to drive inside one of the company's autonomous vehicles operating in San Francisco, without a driver in the front seat. Some San Francisco residents will also be able to travel, but the company will not charge a fee.
The cofounder Cruise's CTO and president, Kyle Vogt, uploaded a video to YouTube where he summoned one of his company's self-driving vehicles and drove around the city of San Francisco as if it were a taxi.
Reported on Twitter : “Around 23:00 on Monday night we put an AV into traffic without any driver inside, for the first time. So far we have tested with people in the driver or passenger seat, so that was the first venture. He started wandering around town, waiting for a ride request. At 23:20 I used the Cruise app and called it for my first ride. After a few minutes, one of the Cruise AVs (named Sourdough) came up to me. No one was inside the car. I pressed the 'start ride' button and the AV went smoothly back into traffic."
Vogt also said he drew five more walks that night. The rides had to take place at night because under the terms of Cruise's "driverless development permit" from its Department of Motor Vehicles California, the company can operate without a driver only between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. and with a maximum speed of 30 miles per hour.
Cruise received the license in early October, which allows the company to deploy its unmanned vehicles inside, as well as charge fees for product delivery services, but not taxi services.
GM CEO Mary Barra said Cruise would begin commercial unmanned shipping and delivery operations by next year. Cruise has not yet applied for the final permit needed, which will be from the California Public Services Commission (CPUC), to be able to charge for robotaxi services. Until then, only Cruise employees and some San Francisco residents will be able to travel on AV, but without a fare.
As you can see, companies insist on autonomous vehicles. And apparently in the near future they will enter everyday life. Starting from the rich European and American cities, they will also come to Greece.
