General Motors’ (GM) autonomous car subsidiary, Cruise, has received permission from the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to test its Cruise-branded, custom-built driverless robotaxi, “Origin,” on public roads in California. It received approval two months after applying for it.

The vehicle has been built from the ground up for ridesharing applications in various urban settings. It can accommodate four passengers at a time and is designed to be driverless; hence, it is not equipped with a steering wheel or sun visors.

The company has already tested the Origin unit on public roads with a safety driver to take control if necessary. 

However, Cruise still needs permission from National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) and California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to launch commercial operations using Origin vehicles.

Analyst QuickTake: GM first introduced its custom-built Origin for the autonomous ride-hailing market in January 2020, with plans to commence production of the vehicle in 2023. Today’s permission brings Cruise one step closer to achieving these goals, and also adds Origin to the list of few vehicles to have obtained the driverless testing permit from the California DMV, including rival Waymo’s robotaxis. However, Cruise currently operates a fleet of Chevy Bolt electric vehicles (EVs) retrofitted with its self-driving software that is already making commercial rides in San Francisco.