Cruise has announced, in a tweet made by Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt, that it is expanding its driverless ride-hailing service in San Fransisco to daytime hours.
The autonomous taxi service is now available to employees 24 hours a day after previously only being available throughout the night and evening. The new opening hours are the latest expansion of the GM subsidiary’s driverless operations in San Fransisco.
Cruise opened its robotaxi service to the public in early 2022. The rides were initially free and limited to small portions of the city and only offered between 11pm and 5am. The service has now developed over time and the company began charging for rides in June 2022.
Fares include a base fee of $5 and $0.90 per mile and $0.40 per minute rate. A 1.5% city tax is also included in the price. An estimated fare is calculated using the estimated time and distance of the fastest, most optimal route. Cruise shares that estimate fare with customers and will charge that amount if the time or distance of the actual ride takes longer.
Cruise has also recently announced that it is expanding operations to Austin and Phoenix and in October and invited potential passengers in Phoenix and Austin to join the waitlist.
Cruise will most likely follow a similar route when expanding its operations to different locations. The service hours and area will start small and will grow when being offered to employees.