(Bloomberg) — Cruise LLC, the self-driving car startup that is majority owned by General Motors Co., said it’s offering free rides to non-employees in San Francisco for the first time, a move that triggers another $1.35 billion from investor SoftBank Vision Fund.
Cruise started its autonomous ride-hailing service in San Francisco for employees more than a year ago and is waiting on regulatory approvals to charge fares. In the meantime, Cruise is offering free rides and will start a waiting list.
By opening its cars to the public, Cruise met requirements from SoftBank to bring in the second portion of its planned investment. The Japanese fund gave Cruise $900 million in 2018 and pledged more once the company proved the cars worked and could ferry around the public at large.
“I’m still surprised I can even write those words,” Cruise Interim Chief Executive Officer Kyle Vogt said in a blog post Tuesday about the launch of the ride service. “This moment really snuck up on me. We’re opening a sign-up page on our site today so you can get a driverless ride soon.”
Cruise has applied for a permit with the California Public Utilities Commission for a permit to charge for rides. It plans to start with “a small number of users” and grow as more cars become available, Vogt said.
GM gives Cruise about $1 billion in funding every year. In addition to that, Cruise has commitments from investors such as Microsoft Corp., Honda Motor Co. and investment firm T. Rowe Price and Associates for more than $6 billion.
Vogt is acting CEO while GM looks to replace Dan Ammann, who was removed form the job in December.
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