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Waymo and Cruise both won California approval to charge for all-day, driverless rides in San Francisco on August 10, 2023. The paths quickly diverged: the DMV suspended Cruise’s driverless permits in October 2023, and GM later stopped funding Cruise robotaxi development and began winding down that business. Waymo remains listed in CPUC driverless-deployment records.

How the San Francisco trials differed over time

Date Waymo Cruise
November 18, 2022 The CPUC authorized Waymo to join its Driverless Pilot. Waymo could carry public passengers without a driver but could not charge fares. Its permitted area included San Francisco and portions of Daly City and other Peninsula cities. The cited CPUC action concerned Waymo; it does not establish a corresponding Cruise change on this date.
Before August 10, 2023 Waymo’s fared service required a safety driver. Cruise could offer fared driverless service only in parts of San Francisco, from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
August 10, 2023 The CPUC approved commercial passenger service with driverless vehicles in San Francisco, allowing fares at any time of day. The CPUC approved the same all-day, paid driverless-service scope in San Francisco.
October 24, 2023 The cited DMV action suspended Cruise’s permits, not Waymo’s. The California DMV immediately suspended Cruise’s deployment and driverless-testing permits.
December 2024–2025 Waymo remained listed in CPUC driverless-deployment records. GM announced in December 2024 that it would stop funding Cruise robotaxi development. In 2025, corporate filings said GM had completed its acquisition of Cruise and begun winding down robotaxi operations while combining teams around personal-vehicle autonomy and advanced driver-assistance systems.

Why two California permissions mattered

A driverless ride depended on two separate regulatory permissions. The California DMV authorized testing or deployment of the autonomous-vehicle technology. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) regulated passenger-carrier service, including authority to carry members of the public. The CPUC’s August 2023 announcement said companies needed both the DMV deployment permit and separate CPUC authority for the service.

That distinction explains how Cruise could receive CPUC approval for paid rides and still lose the ability to deploy driverless vehicles after a DMV action. The CPUC authorization did not override the DMV’s authority over the vehicles themselves.

The current CPUC permit registry lists Waymo driverless deployment authority and operational-design-domain maps for Northern and Southern California. A general driverless permit does not itself authorize airport passenger service: the registry says express approval from the relevant airport authority is also required.

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Why California suspended Cruise

On October 24, 2023, the DMV said Cruise’s driverless vehicles were not safe for public operation, citing unsafe vehicle performance, misrepresentation of safety information, and unreasonable risk to the public. The department suspended Cruise’s deployment and driverless-testing permits immediately. The suspension did not cover Cruise’s safety-driver testing.

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Can the available safety data rank Waymo against Cruise?

No. California DMV figures for 2025 report 4,498,066 autonomous-vehicle testing miles statewide, including 552,895 fully autonomous miles. Those are statewide figures, not San Francisco totals or a Waymo-versus-Cruise breakdown. The DMV cautions that annual disengagement reports are not designed for comparisons across companies, so mileage or disengagement counts should not be treated as a simple safety score.

The CPUC’s 2023 approval announcement also quoted Commissioner John Reynolds saying that the agency did not yet have data to judge autonomous vehicles against the standard set by human drivers, while noting the potential for the technology to improve roadway safety. That distinction remains important: permit status, reported testing miles, and a comparative safety verdict are different kinds of evidence.

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Does Cruise still operate robotaxis?

GM no longer funds Cruise robotaxi development. The company announced that decision on December 10, 2024, citing the considerable time and resources needed to scale the business in an increasingly competitive market. By 2025, filings described Cruise robotaxi operations as being wound down, with teams redirected toward personal-vehicle autonomy and Super Cruise integration. The cited records therefore do not describe an ongoing Cruise driverless ride service in San Francisco.

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