California suspends Cruise from operating driverless taxis in San Francisco

California has rescinded the Cruise’s driverless testing permits in San Francisco, saying in a letter the company’s cars are “not safe for the public’s operation” and that Cruise “misrepresented” safety information.

The Department of Motor Vehicles said it has provided Cruise with a list of changes needed in order to get autonomous vehicle permissions back, but did not disclose those in the letter.

The company has been mired in controversies over the safety of its cars after multiple collisions with other vehicles and pedestrians.

The General Motors-owned tech firm began testing their autonomous cars on San Francisco streets in August. 

Cruise agreed to cut half its fleet in late August after two collisions with vehicles, amid concerns from California regulators. After further collisions with pedestrians, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launched its own safety investigation last week, which is ongoing.

In its August statement, the DMV said it was aware of at least three collisions caused by Cruise vehicles, including two injuries.

Cruise operates about 600 autonomous cars in a few cities nationwide. It began its commercial taxi service in 2022 with driver-operated cars equipped with autonomous scanners, but started the fully-autonomous program earlier this year.

The company is still allowed to test its vehicles on California roads with drivers inside.