Paresh David

(Reuters] – San Francisco’s public transportation operator, Cruise has challenged a request to collect for robotaxi rides. They claimed that Wednesday promotional videos of General Motors Co. (NYSE:) show Cruise passengers illegally hopping from and to their vehicles on the streets instead of at curbs.

Director Jeff Tumlin of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), said that Cruise’s recent videos showed that Cruise was allowing illegal behavior. He also stated that Cruise could endanger people near him and cause buses to slow down. Cruise’s application was also denounced by the agency as failing to provide service for low-income or minority communities, and to make accommodations for wheelchairs.

“Together the Cruise Videos document fourteen total stops for picking up or dropping off passengers. These videos provide evidence that no one of these stops met with Transportation Code and Vehicle Code requirements,” wrote the agency.

Cruise indicated that they would address the concerns via a letter sent to the CPUC Monday.

GM’s Cruise, Alphabet, Inc (NASDAQ) Inc’s Waymo, as well as other companies, see San Francisco a perfect testing ground for their robotaxi service. States have taken over regulation after the Federal government was slow in establishing rules for autonomous vehicles. However, local authorities have tried to exert greater control over these new technologies.

SFMTA responds to Cruise applications last month. California Public Utilities Commission has the final say on whether rides can be charged.

SFMTA has written to Cruise requesting that it deny her application until its automated systems are able to recognize legal on-street, parallel and pull in parking lots.

Cruise’s original deployment plan was also criticised by the agency. It would have ignored nearly all of San Francisco’s poor and disadvantaged neighborhoods and only serve 19% of San Francisco’s Hispanic population. 24% of San Francisco’s Black population. According to the agency, Cruise has not yet tested wheelchair-accessible trips.

Cruise stated it would not use light rail lines on streets, but it did not acknowledge the existence of a train line in its proposed service area.