General Motors’ (GM’s) autonomous car subsidiary Cruise has received permission from authorities to offer its robotaxi services to the general public 24 hours a day, seven days a week, across all of San Francisco, California. This extends its robotaxi services offered to the general public in selected areas during nighttime hours.

The company is opening daytime rides to initial public users in limited areas in the city including Pacific Heights, Richmond, and Sunset, with plans to expand to other areas in the future. However, only Cruise employees will have access to rides covering the whole city.

Analyst QuickTake: Cruise first expanded its operations to daytime hours in San Francisco in November 2022 —which was only available in nighttime hours before. Since then, the company has been offering its robotaxi services for its employees only, and, with today’s permission, the company will be able to extend the service to the general public. The company already offers commercial rides to the public during nighttime hours. The expansion of service hours announced today signifies the company’s attempt at accelerating its commercial operations.