GM’s Cruise, Alphabet’s Waymo Win Permits to Offer Self-Driving Rides to Passengers in California

A Cruise self-driving car, which is owned by General Motors Co., is seen outside the company’s headquarters in San Francisco where it does most of its testing, in California, on Sept. 26, 2018. Heather Somerville/Reuters

SAN FRANCISCO—General Motors Co.’s Cruise and Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo self-driving car subsidiaries on Thursday became the first companies to receive autonomous vehicle permits to offer rides to passengers in California.

Cruise has obtained a permit from the California Department of Motor Vehicles to offer driverless rides to passengers at night in some parts of San Francisco, and Waymo has won a permit from the regulator to deploy autonomous vehicles with safety drivers behind the wheel.