In a major development, the California Public Utilities Commission has voted to allow General Motors’ (NYSE:GM) Cruise and Alphabet’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Waymo to deploy more self-driving cars in San Francisco and to begin charging for the rides, according to the Wall Street Journal.
This is a major win for companies offering self-driving vehicles and the first major step towards expanding their footprint into other major markets in the U.S. While Waymo plans to start charging for rider-only trips in San Francisco in the coming weeks, the approval also means new competition for ride-hailing majors Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) and Uber (NYSE:UBER).
While the approval comes after a twice-delayed vote, concerns still linger about the technology’s impact on human jobs. Furthermore, incidents involving vehicles from these companies shot up 300% in San Francisco.
At present, both GM and Alphabet are incurring losses on their self-driving bets, and overall, the Street has a $50.27 consensus price target on GM alongside a Moderate Buy consensus rating. Alphabet continues to score a Strong Buy consensus rating with a consensus price target of $142.33.
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