SAN FRANCISCO — General Motors announced last week that San Francisco, California will have driverless vehicles by the end of this year.

Named Cruise, this autonomous vehicle does have limitations.  Cruise will only be allowed to be driven on certain streets and will not exceed 30 mph.  Cruises cannot be driven during heavy rain or fog.  According to their website, Cruise received a permit from the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).  Not only does Cruise require a driver, but it also does not need gasoline.

Regarding their permit, Cruise said on Twitter that that they will be “the first to put this permit to use on the streets of a major U.S. city.”

In addition, Cruise believes that “safely removing the driver is the true benchmark of a self-driving car & because burning fossil fuels is no way to build the future of transportation,” as stated on Twitter.

In 2014, the California DMV (according to its website) established the Autonomous Vehicle Tester Program “to allow manufacturers to test autonomous vehicles with a human in the driver seat.”  Four years later, they established the Autonomous Vehicle Driverless Tester Program “for manufacturers to test their technology without a driver.”

According to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, aside from Cruise, other permit holders are Nuro, Waymo, Zoox, and AutoX.