California gives the green light for MORE driverless taxis in San Francisco - despite concerns about safety and dozens of near-misses and chaos on streets

California has given the green light for more driverless taxis to operate in San Francisco - despite safety fears after crashes and near-misses caused chaos.

Regulators from the California Public Utilities Commission issued the landmark decision on Thursday, making the City by the Bay the first in the nation where robot cabs are free to roam without restriction.

Waymo, owned by Alphabet, and Cruise, owned by General Motors, are the companies that will be allowed to operate in the city after the three-to-one vote. 

This despite objections from local officials who argued the vehicles are not safe and unions who raised the alarm about the threat the cars represent to cabbies.

A Waymo self-driving car killed a small dog in San Francisco in May in the broad daylight in a neighborhood east of Bernal Heights. The fatal crash took place close to a dog training facility, according to a DMV incident report.

Waymo (pictured), owned by Alphabet, and Cruise, owned by General Motors, are the companies that will be allowed to operate in the city after the three-to-one vote

Driverless cars have been involved in a string of incidents including slamming into a city bus 

Meanwhile, a Cruise driverless taxi rear ended a bus in the city, forcing the company to recall the automated driving software in 300 of its vehicles.

Additionally, San Francisco drivers have reported an issue with the vehicles stopping on the middle of the road and staying idle for sometimes hours.

In February, San Francisco's fog rolled in from the bay, causing several cars to come to a grinding halt in the middle of a busy street because their sensors could not 'see' through the haze.

While human drivers honked their horns, there was no way around. A two-mile traffic jam built up before technicians arrived, manually took over the controls and cleared the street.

When a robotaxi was pulled over by police for driving at night with no headlights, it stopped briefly before 'making a run for it' across an intersection.

Driverless taxis have been operating in the city for a while but until now were limited to certain areas and whether they can serve paying passengers.

San Francisco drivers have reported an issue with the vehicles stopping on the middle of the road and staying idle for sometimes hours

Waymo cars are now cleared to travel at speeds as fast as 65 miles per hour without human drivers at the wheel, even in some inclement weather. 

The company also won permission to offer driverless car rides to paying passengers in its home city of Mountain View, in Silicon Valley. 

Cruise was approved to run fared passenger service in San Francisco at no faster than 35 miles per hour and not through dense fog or heavy smoke.

Previously, Cruise could charge customers only during certain hours of the day. Waymo had not been allowed to charge for rides without a human driver on board.

'Today is the first of many steps in bringing AV (autonomous vehicle) transportation services to Californians and setting a successful and transparent model for other states to follow,' said CPUC commissioner John Reynolds, who voted in favor of approval.

The decision comes after activists with the protest group Safe Streets Rebel, which advocates for pedestrian safety, posted multiple videos to their social media platforms showing them disabling the robo-taxis by placing a traffic cone on the hood.

Placing a traffic cone on the hood of the driverless car disables it, protesters say that they're trying to raise concerns about the safety issues surrounding robotic cars

The group staged the protest after robotic vehicles were blamed for a string of incidents.

Driverless cars were first introduced in San Francisco in 2014 with a mandatory human "safety driver" on board.

Four years later, California scrapped its requirement for a human driver to be in the car.

The CPUC session drew commenters from all sides of the issue, with some calling robotaxis unsafe menaces while others lauded them as solutions to everything from climate change to road rage.

Driverless cars have gotten stuck in the middle of roads, blocked bus lanes or even interfered in police or firefighter operations.

But others at the hearing praised the vehicles for giving independence to people with disabilities, making roads safer and helping eliminate discrimination.

There are currently about 200 Waymo Jaguar I-Pace electric vehicles in the city, which are currently free to riders, while Cruise has 240 electric Chevy Bolt vehicles, which cost about the same as a ride-sharing service.

The system works by people 'calling' the car via an app on their phone and, just like ride-sharing services such as Uber, tracking it on the screen until it reaches their location.

The car navigates using an array of radar, lidar (laser imaging) and spinning sensors on the roof, front, back and sides, as well as cameras which collect data in real time. It uses AI to steer and its algorithms allow the car to improve its performance over time as it learns to adapt to surroundings.

Once it arrives, you unlock the doors via the app, buckle up and press 'start' to begin the ride. You can play music, adjust the temperature and charge your phone.