In California, Cruise is discontinuing its robotaxi service immediately after announcing a significant international expansion.
The California DMV declared in a statement that it is immediately suspending the company’s self-driving permit in the state. The government claims that several safety issues, primarily from the amount of accidents its self-driving cars have been in, are the reason the service is closing in the state.
The DMV claims that it has the authority to instantly suspend or revoke permits in cases where there is an excessive risk to public safety, meaning that it can stop Cruise’s robotaxi service right away. The statement states that after the company has satisfied the department with its fulfillment of the standards, it may reapply for a permit.
The California DMV today notified Cruise that the department is suspending Cruise s autonomous vehicle deployment and driverless testing permits, effective immediately. The DMV has provided Cruise with the steps needed to apply to reinstate its suspended permits, which the DMV will not approve until the company has fulfilled the requirements to the department s satisfaction. This decision does not impact the company s permit for testing with a safety driver.
According to the California DMV, the following grounds led to the cancellation of the business’s permits:
- Based upon the performance of the vehicles, the Department determines the manufacturer s vehicles are not safe for the public s operation.
- The manufacturer has misrepresented any information related to safety of the autonomous technology of its vehicles.
- Any act or omission of the manufacturer or one of its agents, employees, contractors, or designees which the department finds makes the conduct of autonomous vehicle testing on public roads by the manufacturer an unreasonable risk to the public.
- The department shall immediately suspend or revoke the Manufacturer s Testing Permit or a Manufacturer s Testing Permit Driverless Vehicles if a manufacturer is engaging in a practice in such a manner that immediate suspension is required for the safety of persons on a public road.
Cruise representative Hannah Lindow confirmed the company’s decision to immediately halt its autonomous operations in San Francisco in a statement to The Verge:
We learned today at 10:30 am PT of the California DMV s suspension of our driverless permits. As a result, we will be pausing operations of our driverless AVs in San Francisco. Ultimately, we develop and deploy autonomous vehicles in an effort to save lives.
The announcement that the corporation is working with GM and Honda to produce a new robotaxi model that will debut in Japan in 2026 was made just one week ago. It’s unclear how that plan will be affected by this news. It also coincides with a few weeks after rival robotaxi firm Waymo expanded to—you guessed it—San Francisco.