Waymo and Cruise both won California approval to charge for driverless rides in San Francisco in August 2023, but their paths soon diverged. The California DMV suspended Cruise’s driverless permits in October 2023; GM later stopped funding Cruise robotaxi development and began winding down that business. Waymo’s driverless authority remains listed in CPUC records.
What did “approval” mean for Waymo and Cruise?
California required two separate permissions. The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) regulated testing or deployment of the autonomous-vehicle technology. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) regulated carrying members of the public as passengers. A company needed the relevant DMV permit and separate CPUC authority to offer paid driverless rides.
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The approvals also changed over time. On November 18, 2022, the CPUC authorized Waymo to join its Driverless Pilot program. Waymo could carry public passengers without a driver, but could not charge fares. The permitted area included San Francisco and portions of Daly City and several Peninsula cities.
On August 10, 2023, the CPUC approved commercial passenger service for both Waymo and Cruise: they could charge fares for driverless rides in San Francisco at any time of day. Before that vote, Cruise’s paid driverless service was limited to parts of the city between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.; Waymo could charge fares only when a safety driver was present. The CPUC approval expanded what each company was allowed to do—it did not guarantee that either could continue operating regardless of later enforcement.
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How did the San Francisco services compare?
| Question | Waymo | Cruise |
|---|---|---|
| Earlier driverless passenger service | CPUC-authorized in November 2022 for public passengers without fares, in San Francisco and parts of nearby communities. | Before the August 2023 expansion, paid driverless rides were limited to parts of San Francisco from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. |
| August 10, 2023 CPUC approval | Allowed paid driverless commercial passenger service in San Francisco at any time of day. | Allowed paid driverless commercial passenger service in San Francisco at any time of day. |
| What happened next | The CPUC’s driverless deployment records continue to list Waymo authority. | The DMV suspended Cruise’s deployment and driverless-testing permits on October 24, 2023. GM later ended funding for robotaxi development and began winding down the robotaxi business. |
The CPUC’s current permit registry lists Waymo’s driverless deployment authority and links maps of its Northern and Southern California operational-design domains. That registry also says airport passenger service requires express authorization from the relevant airport authority; citywide permission alone should not be read as airport access.
Why did California suspend Cruise?
On October 24, 2023, the California DMV immediately suspended Cruise’s deployment and driverless-testing permits. The DMV cited concerns about unsafe vehicle performance, misrepresentation of safety information, and unreasonable risk to the public. This was a regulatory enforcement action against Cruise’s permits, not a general finding that every autonomous-vehicle system was unsafe.
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The suspension applied to Cruise’s driverless deployment and driverless testing. It did not include testing with a safety driver. The distinction matters: the DMV action halted the driverless activity covered by those permits, rather than every form of Cruise vehicle testing.
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In announcing the suspension, the DMV said: “Public safety remains the California DMV’s top priority, and the department’s autonomous vehicle regulations provide a framework to facilitate the safe testing and deployment of this technology on California public roads.”
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Does Cruise still operate robotaxis?
No—not as a continuing commercial robotaxi business. On December 10, 2024, GM announced it would stop funding Cruise robotaxi development, saying that scaling the service would require considerable time and resources in an increasingly competitive market. GM completed its acquisition of Cruise, and corporate filings in February–May 2025 said it had begun winding down robotaxi operations while combining teams around personal-vehicle autonomy and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), including Super Cruise integration.
That outcome was a corporate decision after the DMV suspension, not simply a change to the August 2023 CPUC approval. Regulatory permission, the ability to operate under a DMV permit, and a parent company’s willingness to fund a service are separate questions.
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Can mileage reports prove which company was safer?
No simple Waymo-versus-Cruise safety ranking follows from the available California mileage figures. California DMV’s 2025 reporting lists 4,498,066 autonomous-vehicle testing miles, including 552,895 fully autonomous miles. These are statewide figures, not a San Francisco head-to-head comparison between the two companies.
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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesThe DMV specifically cautions that its annual disengagement reports are “not designed for comparative analysis across different companies.” A mileage total or disengagement rate alone therefore cannot establish which service was safer; the measures do not, by themselves, account for the circumstances of each trip, the severity of an event, or differences in reporting and operating conditions.
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At the time of the August 2023 vote, CPUC Commissioner John Reynolds likewise noted: “While we do not yet have the data to judge AVs against the standard human drivers are setting, I do believe in the potential of this technology to increase safety on the roadway.” The record supports distinguishing a specific regulator’s action against Cruise from a broad, definitive technology ranking.
What is the clearest way to understand the outcome?
The two companies briefly had the same headline permission: the CPUC authorized both to offer paid, all-day driverless rides in San Francisco in August 2023. Their outcomes diverged because Cruise’s driverless permits were suspended by the DMV two months later, while Waymo remains listed in CPUC deployment records. GM then chose to wind down Cruise’s robotaxi business. Approval, enforcement, and corporate strategy explain the split more accurately than treating the episode as a simple contest between two safety scores.
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