GM's Cruise can give California passengers fully driverless rides

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has issued GM's Cruise the permit needed to be able to give passengers a ride without a driver behind the wheel. It's the first time (PDF) the commission has issued a permit of this kind, and it's a significant milestone for the CPUC's Autonomous Vehicle Passenger Service Pilot Programs. Waymo and Cruise's other rivals already have "drivered" permits from the regulator, but they also have to secure this "driverless" permit to enable fully autonomous rides with passengers onboard. That said, Cruise can't start charging customers just yet. As Prashanthi Raman, Cruise's director of Government Affairs, explained to TechCrunch: "In order to launch a commercial service for passengers here in the state of California, you need both the California DMV and the California PUC to issue deployment permits. Today we are honored to have been the first to receive a driverless autonomous service permit to test transporting passengers from the California PUC."