CPUC Gives green light to Waymo's driverless service in California

TapTechNews June 25. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) reaffirmed its March decision to give the green light to Google's Waymo to operate a commercial driverless ride-hailing service in San Mateo County and Los Angeles.

The San Francisco Chronicle pointed out that this decision overturned the protests of local officials in these areas who tried to block Waymo's expansion plan.

The CPUC originally planned to approve Waymo's commercial driverless ride-hailing service to enter San Mateo and Los Angeles in March this year, but was temporarily postponed after being opposed by some local officials.

TapTechNews reported in March this year that the CEO of Google's driverless company Waymo, Tekedra Mawakana, said at the SXSW conference on Wednesday that Waymo will start providing driverless taxi services to the public in Los Angeles from Thursday and will expand to Austin by the end of this year.

Waymo has been testing and validating driverless cars in an area of about 43 square miles (TapTechNews note: about 111.37 square kilometers) near downtown Los Angeles, Barton Hill, Riverside, East Austin, and Hyde Park.

In Los Angeles, Waymo will first provide ride services in a 63-square-mile (about 163.17 square kilometers) area from Santa Monica to the downtown area. The company said it is gradually adding the more than 50,000 people on the waiting list in Los Angeles and continues to issue temporary codes at local events throughout the city.

US Senator Dave Cortese had released a proposal hoping to give local governments jurisdiction to control self-driving cars operating within their jurisdiction, but Cortese canceled the proposal this week.

Cortese claimed that the House Transportation Committee is planning to amend the bill to delete the 'local control' clause as its core purpose, thus nullifying it. Therefore, Cortese believes it is best to shelve the bill temporarily and restart it next year.