On Thursday, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) approved applications from Waymo and Cruise to expand their autonomous vehicle (AV) services in San Francisco. Commercial autonomous vehicle service in the city was previously confined to certain operators, hours, and zones of the city, but today’s approval allows both Waymo and Cruise to offer commercial AV service to the full city at all hours.

“This is a great day. The sooner we put AVs on the road, the more lives we can save in San Francisco.” said Chamber of Progress CEO Adam Kovacevich. “California officials were wise to recognize that this technology has proven itself, despite the last minute objections of a few city officials. A few months from now, AVs will be such a positive and ordinary part of the city’s fabric that we’ll wonder why anyone ever worried about them.”

In May, Chamber of Progress urged the CPUC to approve applications from Waymo and Cruise to expand AV service in San Francisco. Chamber of Progress also urged the CPUC to reject new data reporting requirements that would create duplicative regulatory hurdles for AV operators in California.

In Congress, Chamber of Progress has pushed congressional leaders to pass an AV regulatory framework that would allow for the nationwide deployment of driverless cars.

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Chamber of Progress (progresschamber.org) is a center-left tech industry policy coalition promoting technology’s progressive future. We work to ensure that all Americans benefit from technological leaps, and that the tech industry operates responsibly and fairly. 

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