General Motors-backed Cruise got the green light from California regulators last week to operate a commercial robotaxi service in San Francisco, marking a watershed moment in the autonomous vehicle rollout.
Why it matters: AV developers have spent tens of billions of dollars trying to develop and commercialize self-driving technology. While Cruise is still a fledgling business, its for-pay driverless taxi service will be the first in a densely populated U.S. city when it launches within the next couple of weeks.