GM's Cruise to launch driverless cars without human backups in San Francisco by end of year

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Sunday, October 18, 2020
Cruise to launch driverless cars in SF by end of year
General Motor's autonomous vehicle unit Cruise says they are set to launch driverless cars without human backups onto San Francisco's streets by the end of 2020.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- General Motors announced on Thursday its autonomous vehicles will be rolling down San Francisco streets as soon as the end of 2020.



The company's self-driving vehicle division, Cruise, received a permit from the DMV allowing it to test five driverless vehicles,



The vehicles will be limited to specified streets with speed limits not exceeding 30 miles an hour.




They can be tested anytime of day, but not during heavy fog or heavy rain.



Cruise is the fifth company to receive a driverless testing permit from the DMV.



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The company has reached the point where it's confident that it can safely operate without humans in the cars, spokesman Ray Wert said.



Cruise plans to go neighborhood-by-neighborhood in San Francisco, launching the driverless vehicles slowly before spreading to the entire city.



The company will hold neighborhood meetings to answer people's questions,



Cruise began testing its vehicles with safety drivers in 2015.



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