Cruise Receives Permit to Test New Vehicle Without Steering Wheel on Public Roads

General Motors subsidiary Cruise’s fleet of robot taxis have been on the streets of San Francisco for several months, and now the company has received approval from the California DMV to test a completely new type of vehicle on public roads without a steering wheel.

Cruise founder and CEO Kyle Vogt announced that the Cruise Origin, which can drive in both directions and does not have a driver’s seat or steering wheel, is now allowed to drive on public roads in California for testing. So far, Cruise has been using self-driving technology-equipped Chevrolet Bolts, primarily in San Francisco, Phoenix and Austin.

Today we received approval from the CA DMV to test the Origin on public roads! Huge step for @Cruise as we continue to work with regulators to deploy this phenomenal, American-made vehicle. pic.twitter.com/N54a4C3eee

— Kyle Vogt (@kvogt) February 3, 2023

Other companies also have steering wheel-less vehicles in development. Zoox, for example, which presented its vehicle at CES 2023 in Las Vegas, among other events, where it will soon be used on the roads, as will Waymo, which plans to use the vehicle built by Zeekr/Geely.

This article was also published in German.