Cruise said the expansion of the approval was a milestone for the driverless car industry
Approval from regulators came despite objections from police and fire officials, activists and others.Waymo, which shares a parent company with Google and has been offering free rides in its driverless cars throughout San Francisco riders since last year, called the decision "the true beginning of our commercial operations in San Francisco".
The California Public Utilities Commission had twice postponed the vote and on Thursday heard more than six hours of testimony from the public, including supporters and critics. The board approved the expansion 3-1.Critics raised concerns about safety records and claimed the cars often caused traffic incidents, by abruptly shutting down or failing to make way for emergency responders.
In the statement announcing the approval, commissioners acknowledged that data on how autonomous vehicle safety records compare with regular cars was limited.