On Friday, Cruise, a self-driving vehicle company owned by General Motors
Though Cruise is expanding on its services by beginning to charge for these types of rides, the program is still restricted, since it only has about 30 cars. Anyone is able to sign up, but Cruise is still being selective, since it has such a limited amount of vehicles that are available.
This new driverless program by Cruise will run between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. and only on specified San Francisco city streets. The limited availability of Cruise is part of its system to ensure safety and efficiency before it will further expand and grow.
Depending on the distance of the trip as well as the time of day, the cost of the Cruise driverless taxi rides will fluctuate. For instance, a customer who is going on a 1.3-mile trip would be required to pay $0.90 per mile, $0.40 per minute, as well as the $5 base cost and $1.50 city tax, which would come to a total of $8.72. In comparison, it is a bit cheaper than other taxi driving or ride hailing services, such as Uber
Cruise is additionally permitting customers to bring along guests on their rides. Its app will be accessible on the Apple
Although autonomous driving vehicles have many benefits that could potentially be useful and convenient for customers, some riders have mixed feelings about it. One rider stated that, though he had never been in an autonomous driving vehicle made by Cruise, he had been in a similar one that enabled him to overall appreciate the experience, according to Electrek. He saw many issues with the self-driving vehicles, in terms of sociability, reliability, and labor, but also saw many benefits, such as convenience or manageability.
Overall, since the testing of Cruise's self-driving vehicles is still in the works, it will become known over time if the benefits outweigh the risks or vice versa. It seems to elicit mixed feelings from riders, but at the same time, is appreciated for its ease of convenience.
- https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/23/23180156/cruise-driverless-vehicle-charge-riders-san-francisco
- https://techcrunch.com/2022/06/24/cruises-driverless-autonomous-cars-start-giving-rides-to-paying-passengers/
- https://electrek.co/2022/06/23/gm-cruise-takes-first-fares-for-paid-driverless-taxi-in-san-francisco/