General Motors’ driverless car company Cruise has received a permit from the California Department of Motor Vehicles to offer rides to passengers in their “Robotaxis” with no safety drivers.

Reuters reports the Company has obtained a permit from the California Department of Motor Vehicles to offer driverless rides to passengers at night in some parts of San Francisco.

Meanwhile The Verge reports Waymo is being allowed to deploy its autonomous vehicles with a human monitor behind the wheel. In order to give rides to paying passengers in its fully driverless vehicles, as it does in Arizona, the Google spinoff would need to apply for an additional permit.

It says Waymo was the first company to receive a driverless testing permit in 2018. And while the idea of a fully autonomous ride-hailing service is still Waymo’s “north star and ultimate service model,” according to a spokesperson, the company will only remove safety drivers from its vehicles when it’s ready to do so.

(Picture – Cruise)