New regulations go into effect July 1 giving city officials authority over driverless vehicle companies, including ticketing for traffic violations, stipulating fleet sizes, and utilizing geofencing in emergencies — while also paving the way for driverless trucks.

California regulators are moving to close a longstanding loophole that left driverless vehicles effectively immune to ticketing, with new rules taking effect July 1 that allow law enforcement to cite autonomous vehicle companies for traffic violations, as NBC Bay Area reports.

The Department of Motor Vehicles will issue “Notices of AV Noncompliance” when driverless cars break traffic laws, including running red lights, failing to yield to pedestrians, or entering active emergency scenes. Companies must report details of each incident within 72 hours, or within 24 hours for more serious cases.

In 2023, NBC Bay Area highlighted how existing law only applied to human “drivers,” leaving officers unable to formally cite autonomous vehicles even after clear violations. Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1777 in 2024 directing the DMV to create a new enforcement protocol for driverless vehicles but stopping short of traditional tickets and fines.

SFist reported last September about a San Bruno police officer who posted on social media about being unable to give a ticket to a Waymo robotaxi that made an illegal U-turn because there was no driver. He instead notified the company to correct the error in the system that guided the driverless vehicle to violate the law. (It was since discovered that remote human workers, oftentimes in the Philippines, offer situational and navigational guidance to the vehicles when needed).

The DMV will also have authority to impose operational limits on autonomous vehicle fleets, including restrictions on size, service areas, speed, and use during certain weather conditions when deemed necessary for public safety, according to the Chronicle.

Local emergency officials will also be authorized to issue “emergency geofencing directives,” requiring driverless vehicles to clear designated areas within two minutes to make way for first responders. The companies that operate these vehicles must also respond to emergency calls within 30 seconds, under the new regulations.

Repeated or serious violations can reportedly lead to escalating penalties, including permit restrictions, suspension, or revocation.

The regulations come after incidents like last December’s San Francisco blackout, when Waymos stalled at intersections without functioning stoplights while waiting for human confirmation, as SFist reported.

One controversial aspect to the new regulations is that they allow for autonomous trucks, which SFist reported in December. Companies can now seek approval to operate driverless trucks weighing more than 10,000 pounds, which had previously been prohibited in the state.

Previously:DMV Now Hammering Out Rules for Self-Driving Trucks to Come to California

Image: San Bruno Police Department

A copper wire theft job at the Oakland Coliseum DMV ended up wrecking the HVAC system and flooding the place, leading to a seven-month repair job, but that DMV office will open again on Monday.

It was a terrible time for a DMV office to close back in April, when the Oakland Coliseum DMV had to close because copper wire thieves hit that DMV. The thieves ransacked the place, and their theft of wires led to the HVAC system completely flooding the office. This was right when people were desperately trying to get their Real IDs before a May deadline, so it was a phenomenal inconvenience for East Bay residents to be deprived of a DMV office.

The clean-up and repair job was supposed to take five months, though apparently it ended up taking more than seven months. Either way, KRON4 reports that the Oakland Coliseum DMV office is now ready to reopen, and will do so next week.

That damaged HVAC system has now been replaced, air ducts cleaned out, and lots of other damaged infrastructure has also been fixed. The DMV also says they've added additional security measures, though these are not disclosed.

“The DMV’s top priority is to protect the health and safety of its team members and customers,” the office said in a statement to KRON4.

So the Oakland Coliseum DMV will reopen Monday, November 10, at 8 am. But then of course, they will close the very next day, because Tuesday is Veterans Day. They’ll reopen for normal weekday 8 am - 5 pm hours after that on Wednesday, November 12.

Related: Oakland DMV Office Will Be Closed Four to Five Months After Vandalism and Copper Wire Theft [SFist]

Image: Jo W via Yelp

State Attorney General Rob Bonta has Tesla in his crosshairs, and is aiming to temporarily suspend the company’s ability to do business in California, charging that Tesla’s “autopilot” and “full self-driving capability” claims are misleading bunk.

Ever since Trump returned to office, the discourse about electric carmaker Tesla has mostly concerned the Elon Musk protests at its dealerships, the company’s prodigious stock nosedive that has wrecked a Wall Street darling, and Musk’s entirety predictable break-up with Donald Trump after that bizarro Tesla marketing stunt on the White House lawn. All of that has pushed to the back-burner the very real concern that Tesla’s “full self-driving” mode is being wildly oversold, and has led to real-life car crashes.      

California Attorney General Rob Bonta is trying to get those “self-driving” concerns back into the discussion in a big way. The Chronicle reports that a state lawsuit against Tesla got underway Monday, and if the suit goes against Tesla, California DMV could suspend Tesla’s license to manufacture and sell cars in the state, for 30 days or longer.

NBC Bay Area is also at the Oakland courthouse where the trial started today, and has the very clever detail that Tesla critics placed “58 makeshift tombstones to signify the number of people who lost their lives in crashes involving Tesla's autopilot.”

Bonta’s lawsuit against Tesla is not new. It was originally filed in 2022, amended in 2023, and is just beginning court proceedings today. But the state’s case against Tesla is that they are significantly exaggerating when they use the terms “autopilot,” “full self-driving capability,” and claim that their system is “designed to be able to conduct short and long-distance trips with no action required by the person in the driver’s seat.”

And Bonta himself argued in a legal briefing last week that “These labels and descriptions represent specifically that respondent (Tesla)’s vehicles will operate as autonomous vehicles, which they could not and cannot do.”

Tesla attorneys respond that the automaker “has always made clear” that the cars are not fully autonomous, and require “active driver supervision” from a human being.

This new Oakland case is happening simultaneous to a separate trial in Miami where a 2019 Tesla Autopilot mishap is being blamed for killing one woman and gravely injuring her romantic partner.  

So what could come of this California trial? The Chronicle reports that in addition to Tesla being forced to pay monetary damages, the DMV could also “suspend Tesla’s licenses to manufacture and sell vehicles in California for at least 30 days.” So Tesla would still exist, but theoretically, their California manufacturing plants would be shut down for a month, and so would their dealerships. That’s not a death sentence, and the company would surely survive, but this would certainly make a bad year even worse for Tesla, and might lead to more similar state lawsuits.

Also, none of this bodes well for Tesla as it intends to launch its actually self-driving taxi service in the Bay Area — as Musk recently said, "in a month or two." The LiDAR-free Tesla models feature extra sensors and an upgraded version of the "full-self-driving" software, but the robotaxis, currently being tested with just a small group of users in Austin, Texas, have already been shown doing odd things out in the wild. But no injuries have been reported so far.

Related: Idiot From Modesto In a Company-Owned Cybertruck Gives Nazi Salute, Sparks Internet Rage [SFist]

Image: CORTE MADERA, CALIFORNIA - DECEMBER 20: A Tesla Cybertruck is displayed at a Tesla dealership on December 20, 2024 in Corte Madera, California. Electric car maker Tesla is recalling 700,000 vehicles over a tire pressure warning system that could fail to warn drivers of low tire pressure. 2024 Cybertrucks, 2017-2025 Model 3 and 2020-2025 Model Y are being recalled. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

It’s a terrible time to close a DMV office for five months with the new state-issued ID law taking effect in about three weeks, but that’s what’s happening at the Oakland Coliseum DMV office, as the site is reeling and flooded after copper wire theft and vandalism.

We knew things looked bad when we learned Tuesday morning that the Oakland Coliseum DMV office had been ransacked by copper wire thieves, whose theft of the wire left the HVAC system completely busted and the office closed until further notice. But come Wednesday morning, we learned that things are really bad at that office, so bad that the DMV office will be closed for five whole months, according to the Chronicle.  

And mind you, this is just 22 days before the Real ID deadline takes effect, requiring a new and updated form of state-issued ID to board domestic flights.

KGO has some footage from the scene of the wrecked office, where huge volumes of water are being hosed out from the flooded building to the parking lot. But more importantly, that footage also captures the staggeringly long lines at Oakland’s other DMV office on Claremont Avenue, where people now have to go because the Coliseum office is closed.

“On April 14, office staff discovered a leaking water pipe in the ceiling that caused flooding. They determined that someone had stolen wiring that cut electricity to the HVAC system and light poles in the parking lot, among other damage. The incident was reported to law enforcement,” the DMV said in their official announcement. “The office may be closed for four to five months for repairs.”

And yes, the department points out that there are other DMV offices on Oakland’s Claremont Avenue, plus in Hayward, Pleasanton and San Francisco. But the Real ID upgrade does require an in-person visit, and now there are fewer offices. The SF office is not showing any available appointment times until June, and now the agency is down another office, which cannot help.

According to the Chronicle, the DMV claims the Real ID appointment “in-person visit typically takes about 15 minutes.” Does anyone believe you can get something done at the DMV within 15 minutes? In the Bay Area, this may well result in DMV appointments being booked to the gills, months-out in advance, for who-knows-how-long into the summer and possibly beyond.

Related: Digital, Smartphone Driver’s Licenses are Coming to California [SFist]

Image: Jane B via Yelp

Just imagine the douche who bought a Tesla Cybertruck and then decided to put a license plate on it trivializing violence.

A Tesla Cybertruck owner ordered a vanity plate from the California DMV that said "LOLOCT7," making reference to Hamas's attack on Israeli citizens on October 7, 2023, and the DMV didn't catch the reference and let it go through. Now, the agency has issued an apology.

As KPIX reports, the DMV apologized Thursday for allowing the offensive plate to slip past its review process. The plate had apparently been photographed on a Cybertruck in Los Angeles (actually Culver City).

Calling the plate "unacceptable and disturbing," the statement say, "The DMV Is taking swift action to recall these shocking plates, and we will immediately strengthen our internal review process to ensure such an egregious oversight never happens again."

The DMV adds, "The use of hateful language is not only a clear violation of our policies but also a violation of our core values to proudly serve the public and ensure safe and welcoming roadways."

After this reference managed to slip through, the agency said it would be reviewing all custom vanity plates in its database to identify "similar content."

The group StopAntisemitism responded after seeing a photo of the license plate on Twitter, reposting and saying that people should demand that the DMV recall the plate "that celebrates the October 7th terrorist attack — a vile mockery of the 1,200 innocent lives lost and the countless others scarred."

The DMV's apology and recall came shortly after.

The owner of the Cybertruck was not publicly identified, but the DMV told the Los Angeles Times that the owner had the right to appeal their decision to recall the plate.

The 1960-built Department of Motor Vehicles office and its parking lot at the tip of the Panhandle in San Francisco will be redeveloped as affordable housing, Governor Gavin Newsom announced Thursday.

It's been eyed as a development site for years, and now it shall come to pass. As the Chronicle first reported, Newsom announced this morning that the state would partner with two developers, Related California and the non-profit Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation, to redevelop the 2.5-acre property at 1377 Fell Street into housing.

"We will continue to use all our tools to create more affordable housing throughout California — including by converting underutilized state property into homes,” Newsom said in a statement. “I’m particularly proud of this site for bringing affordable housing to the heart of San Francisco in a diverse and thriving neighborhood.”

It seems like this could cause some disruption with DMV appointments in the coming years, given how busy this DMV location typically is. But the plan, according to the governor's office, is to demolish the DMV building and reopen a modernized DMV facility in the base of the new residential complex in June 2029.

The complex will consist of several buildings, the tallest of which will be eight stories. And there will be 372 units, made affordable to those making 30% to 80% of area median income. The housing is expected to be complete by August 2030.

This project has been in the works for some time, and SFist first reported on the Board of Supervisors discussing this as an affordable development site in November 2022. At the time Supervisor Dean Preston said the idea should be a "no-brainer" for the state — though the state had been discussing simply demolishing the DMV building and replacing it with another one-story structure. Preston worked with Assemblymember Phil Ting to pressure the state into creating a larger development opportunity.*

The state put out a request for proposals for the project a year ago, in September 2023. And now it seems that conceptual plans have been drawn up, and a deal has been signed.

As the Chronicle notes, an earlier request for proposals for 1377 Fell Street had gone out back in 2008, and Build Inc. had been selected to redevelop the property, but that project never came to be due to the recession.

Department of Housing and Community Development director Gustavo Velasquez put out a statement saying that he hopes this project will "inform similar out-of-the-box thinking for communities statewide on how we can maximize use of public land for the benefit of the people."

There's no word on when this DMV office may close, or where a temporary, interim facility might pop up to serve SF's driver's license and Real ID needs.

Previously: DMV Lot On Fell Street Floated As Affordable Housing Development Site

*This has been corrected to show that the state's prior development plans did not include housing, and that Supervisor Preston's 2022 resolution played a role in making the project happen.

Allegedly “in the coming weeks,” you’ll be able to upload your California driver’s license and present it digitally in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, that is, if you consider getting your ID out of your wallet to be some terribly time-consuming task.

I’ll never quite understand this notion, pushed by so many in tech, that getting your phone out of your pocket is supposedly so much easier than getting your wallet out of your pocket. That sentiment may be fueled by the fact that the smartphone industry has a vastly larger marketing and lobbying presence than does the wallet industry. And my wallet never asks me for a passcode, never tries to push Face ID on me, and notably, the battery never goes dead on my wallet.

But it’s inevitable that more activities are being pushed to digital, smartphone capabilities with each passing day. And as such, the Chronicle reports the California DMV will launch digital driver’s licenses and state ID cards in Apple Wallet and Google Wallet. According to a press release from Governor Newsom’s office, the program will launch “In the coming weeks.”

“We’re partnering with two iconic California companies – Apple and Google – to provide convenient, private and secure driver’s licenses and ID cards directly on people’s phones,” Newsom said in the release. “This is a big step in our efforts to better serve all Californians, meeting people where they’re at and with technology people use every day.”

The video above shows how this will supposedly work. (Does the phrase “CA DMV would like to access the camera" instill confidence?) After going through the often-fussy face-scanning process, you’ll apparently be able to use the QR codes this thing generates to go through airport TSA, or to verify that you’re 21 to buy alcohol and such.

But the use cases will be incredibly limited, at first, at least. As the Chronicle explains, the only places the digital ID will work is to get through TSA at SFO, LAX, and San Jose’s Mineta International Airport, “plus a handful of convenience stores in Sacramento and Los Angeles.”

And we should note the digital ID won’t work at the out-of-state destination airport for your return flight. There is also no mention of whether this is compatible with the RealID program that will be mandatory to get through TSA starting in May 2025.

Oh, and you’re still legally required to carry your physical ID card on you, even if you have these digital capabilities.  

In an attempt to grow these very limited uses, Newsom’s press release says that “The DMV will be hosting two ‘hackathons’ in the fall for innovators interested in adding this secure digital identity into their customer experience.”

Apple seems eager to adopt this, as they’ve put out their own press release, touting the new service as “seamless and secure.” But both Apple and Android require you to generate a single-use QR code every time you need to produce the digital ID, so it remains to be seen whether that process is maybe glitchier than promised.

And the whole thing might just be a huge data harvesting operation. As the Electronic Freedom Foundation notes, the new system will operate with a “lack of comprehensive consumer data privacy laws that keep businesses from harvesting and selling identifying information and sensitive personal information.”

But if you’re determined to be an early adopter, you can enroll in the mobile driver’s license program online.

Related: California DMV Now Letting You Take Written Renewal Exams Online [SFist]

Image: California DMV via Youtube

After a series of concerning incidents involving Cruise autonomous vehicles, the California Department of Motor Vehicles issued an order late Friday asking Cruise to reduce its fleet of AVs in San Francisco.

Almost immediately following two collisions on Thursday night, one of which resulted in a passenger injury, and one week after the California Public Utilities Commission voted to expand Cruise's permit along with Waymo's, the DMV announced that they had stepped in.

"Cruise has agreed to a 50% reduction and will have no more than 50 driverless vehicles in operation during the day and 150 driverless vehicles in operation at night," the DMV said in a statement. "The DMV reserves the right, following the investigation of the facts, to suspend or revoke testing and/or deployment permits if there is determined to be an unreasonable risk to public safety."

The agency added, "Safety of the traveling public is the California DMV’s top priority. The primary focus of the DMV’s regulations is the safe operation of autonomous vehicles and safety of the public who share the road with these vehicles."

In the injury accident Thursday, a Cruise vehicle appears to have not recognized the need to yield to an oncoming fire engine — though that incident is being investigated, and Cruise's version of events is different. (Their version: "One of our cars entered the intersection on a green light and was struck by an emergency vehicle that appeared to be en route to an emergency scene.")

One female passenger who was in the robotaxi at the time reportedly suffered a head injury which Cruise deemed to be "non-severe."

In the second incident Thursday, a Cruise vehicle was struck by another vehicle traveling at high speed in the Mission District. Cruise claims that other vehicle ran a red light, but there seems to be some dispute there as well.

The DMV may also be responding to an incident last Friday night, the first night of Outside Lands, when Cruise said that "connectivity issues" had caused an entire group of their vehicles to stall and sit idle in the middle of a busy North Beach street. Cruise later said that human interference with one of the vehicles had set off the chain reaction.

The past week has been full of local politicians crying foul over the PUC's vote last week, with both the SF city attorney and Board of Supervisors vowing to take action however they could.

Regarding Thursday's injury crash, per the Chronicle, Supervisor Aaron Peskin called it "an accident waiting to happen," and he excoriated Cruise for its "highly inadequate" response.

"They should be expressing concern for San Francisco, San Franciscans and the passenger," Peskin said. "They are using our streets for their testing ground, you would hope they show a little more respect for our city."

City Attorney David Chiu filed a motion with the PUC Wednesday, asking them to reverse their decision.

The PUC's 3-1 vote, seen as a pivotal one for the autonomous vehicle industry and its ability to expand testing on SF's complicated city streets, came after several months of concerning incidents recorded by the SF Fire Department and others. As part of the vote, the PUC commissioners gave the green light for Waymo and Cruise to expand their fleets in SF without limits, and allowed both companies to begin taking paid passengers 24 hours a day.

Up until last week, Waymo had only been doing free rides on a limited basis with a closed list of beta testers, and Cruise had only been operating between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. in a northern swath of the city, taking paid passengers — though the cars were able to drive all over the city during the day without passengers.

Cruise put out a statement following the order from the DMV, saying, "Over one hundred people lose their lives every day on American roadways, and countless others are badly injured. We believe it’s clear that Cruise positively impacts overall road safety, and look forward to working with the CA DMV to make any improvements and provide any data they need to reinforce the safety and efficiency of our fleet."

The state's property at the tip of the Panhandle in SF, currently home to the city's busy DMV field office, is a prime development site that's been discussed before — and Supervisor Dean Preston says the state should step up and "partner" with the city to allow it to become affordable housing.

Perhaps to help balance legislation he proposed to approve a large market-rate development on Franklin Street, Supervisor Dean Preston introduced a resolution at Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting to push for the development of the CA Department of Motor Vehicles property at 1377 Fell Street. The site is home to a small, single-story building and a large, mostly unused parking lot, and as NBC Bay Area reports, Preston called the idea a "no-brainer."

Preston also noted in the resolution that developer Build Inc. had entered into negotiations to develop the DMV property in 2008, but they were "unable to make the project work" at the time.

It's not clear how many units would be allowable at the site, and height limits of around four or five stories would likely apply. The site reportedly is 98,061 square feet — and it's unclear if that's just the parking lot, or the entire parcel.

This is one of those resolutions that may be more political grandstanding than anything else. Since the property belongs to the state, all the board can do is "urge" the state to hand the property over as a 100% affordable development site.

But Preston is making a point here about the state's recently heightened housing mandate for San Francisco. The board was also taking an initial vote on a draft Housing Element on Tuesday, the plan the city must get approved this winter to realistically construct 82,000 new housing units by 2031 in order not to lose out on state funding. (It remains unclear if the city will meet a crucial January 31 deadline for a workable plan.)

"We welcome the ambitious affordable housing targets set in the Housing Element," Preston said, per NBC Bay Area. "But the state needs to do more than just demand streamlining market rate production to get there. We need partnership from the state to maximize every opportunity for affordable housing, and the DMV site is the perfect starting point."

Related: This Winter and Spring Could Be a Chaotic Free-for-All For Developers If SF Can't Get Its Housing Element Approved

In a gesture toward joining the 21st Century and reducing the amount of time you have to spend at a physical DMV office, the California DMV is now going to let you take written exams online.

It's called the Driver’s License Knowledge Test, and in addition to being required of first-time license applicants, it's required of those applying for a new CA license after moving here from out of state, applying for a Real ID for the first time, renewing your license not within a specific window near its expiration date, and it's required every five years for renewal for drivers over the age of 70. The California DMV has now created an online test-taking option — with a browser extension download required, and some sort of monitoring to prevent cheating — and they're also allowing renewing drivers to take a 45-minute online knowledge course with quizzes, sort of like online traffic school, as an option in lieu of taking the test.

"This is one more example of how the DMV is modernizing to add more convenient services online that used to be only available in an office," says DMV Director Steve Gordon in a statement. "We continue to incorporate ways to bring DMV services to our customers when and where they want."

License renewal applicants, Real ID applicants, and first-time licensees will still have to make an appointment at a physical DMV field office to submit necessary documents, take a vision exam, and provide their thumbprint, but the exam portion can at least be done at home.

The test can be taken online twice, and if a person fails it twice, they will have to take it in person the third time. It can only be taken between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. And the test is available in 35 languages.

For those moving to CA from another state, the online knowledge course is not an option.

As KRON4 reports, safeguards are in place to prevent cheating, including keyboard monitoring, voice monitoring, and webcams, and the online test can only be taken on a computer, not on a phone or tablet.

The federal government's Real ID requirement for domestic travel, which had been scheduled to take effect already, got pushed out to May 3, 2023 due to the pandemic. After that point, you will need to have a Real ID or show your passport to board any plane, even if you're not leaving the country.

So, in the next year, you may be in the market for renewing for CA driver's license and getting a Real ID — as this PSA posted to LinkedIn explains, if you're not close to your five-year renewal on your license, you have the option to simply upgrade your license to a Real ID without taking taking the written exam, but you'll keep your existing expiration date and have to take the exam eventually to renew.

Photo: Andrew D./Yelp

The notoriously unloved California Department of Motor Vehicles has just published some new data touting the fact that wait-times across the state for those arriving at DMV locations without an appointment have been cut in half over the last year.

Average wait times for September 2019 were allegedly just 38 minutes, or a little more than half the 73-minute average waits recorded the previous September. As the Sacramento Bee reports, the DMV is crediting "increased staffing and season shifts in customer volume," as well as a substantial decline in the amount of time arriving customers spend waiting to get a number. Nonetheless, the Bay Area and Los Angeles DMV offices are still the ones pushing the averages up.

The overall decrease in waits is good news given the expected uptick in volume at DMV offices in 2020 due to the federally mandated Real ID program. Under that program, beginning October 1, 2020, you will no longer be able to use a standard driver's license at TSA checkpoints at airports, but you will need to get a new Real ID issued at a DMV office following an in-person appearance. The DMV is expecting around 10 million Californians to be clamoring for Real IDs in the next ten months, with wait times in July, August, and September of next year more than likely to be horrific.

"If your identification card or driver license expires after the federal enforcement date, and you need a REAL ID sooner, we encourage you to apply now,” says CA DMV director Steve Gordon in a statement.

As the Sac Bee notes, the DMV set a goal last year to limit wait times for those with appointments to 15 minutes, and to 45 minutes for those without appointments. Everyone who's visited the Panhandle DMV office in San Francisco knows that this goal typically isn't met — data shows that people with appointments in the Bay Area and Los Angeles, on average, still wait 20 minutes, and those without appointments wait nearly an hour in LA and 36 minutes at the San Francisco office. The worst wait times in the Bay Area are in Daly City (70 minutes without an appointment), Redwood City (57 minutes w/o) and Oakland/Coliseum (56 minutes w/o).

And as many already know, up in Corte Madera it is usually smooth sailing, with an average wait of 28 minutes if you don't have an appointment, and 12 minutes if you do.

Photo: Julianne O./Yelp

After jitney service Chariot abruptly shut down its San Francisco service last week, speculation ran rampant on the cause of the closure. But now we know the reason: Multiple drivers with the company weren't properly licensed to shuttle passengers, an issue the company says it's resolved, resuming service today.

It was just last Thursday that Chariot announced that they were shutting down service in SF, saying in a statement posted to Twitter that "Chariot is in full compliance with all regulations" but it had "received an order from a regulator to temporarily suspend service."

“We are committed to always providing our riders with safe and reliable service," the company said, "and we comply with regulatory orders even when we disagree with them."

It appears that the order that Chariot suggests they disagree with wasn't spurred by bad brakes or ADA violations, as some have reasonably speculated. Instead, we learn days after the initial suspension, the company "had an unknown number of improperly licensed drivers during three separate safety inspections," the Chron reports.

CHP Sergeant Robert Nacke tells the Chron that “drivers to have a specific license: either a class B or a class C with passenger endorsement" to drive the 15-person vans Ford-owned Chariot uses. But during three random checks over the past year, CHP inspectors found drivers working for the service that didn't have those licenses.

According to the Ex:

The CHP inspections of Chariot’s vehicles on the road in Napa in October 2016, as well as inspections of Chariot’s 95 Minna St. bus yard in March and August 2017, all found violations, according to inspection records obtained by the Examiner.

CHP inspected 20 vehicles and found one violation in 2016, according to an inspection document, and gave Chariot an “unsatisfactory rating.”

In the March inspection, the CHP found two violations out of 20 inspections.

In August, however, the CHP found its most drivers without licenses to date, as five of the drivers inspected were without Class B licenses, according to inspection documents.

Though “Our inspectors brought it to their attention and said you have to make sure your drivers have the proper training and skills,” Nacke tells the Chron, as the problem persisted "the CHP was obligated to submit a formal recommendation to the CPUC," triggering the shutdown.

“The CPUC has a responsibility to suspend a carrier’s operating permit for failure to maintain a vehicle in safe operating mode, other violations related to transportation safety, and/or failure to comply with the DMV’s employee Pull Notice Program,” CPUC spokesperson Christopher Chow tells the Chron.

The distinction between the licenses is important, the Ex says:

Commercial Class B licenses show training has been attained in driving vehicles more than 26,000 pounds, or a three-axle vehicle weighing over 6,000 pounds, farm labor vehicles, or — crucially in this case — buses.

A Class C license is the one most everyday commuters carry in their wallets, allowing drivers behind the wheels of sedans and similar sized vehicles.

As the CHP only reviews a sample of the vehicles, there's the "possibility of more drivers without proper licenses," the Ex reports.

Instead of addressing those issues with the public, Chariot instead appeared to launch a petition directed at the SFMTA, which had no role in the suspension.

Reactions were swift:

But though the company tweeted the campaign amid its announcements of the shut down, it is perhaps unrelated: just days before the CPUC stepped in, the SFMTA said they're planning on more-fully regulating the company. It's not immediately clear why the company might be suggesting to riders that requirements to "provide wheelchair accessible vehicles and to submit operating data to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency" means the city might not "keep [them] as a transit option in SF."

(Chariot spokesperson Erin Simpson contacted SFist to say that "Chariot launched that petition in advance of the SFMTA meeting," which was held on 10/17. Follow-up questions to Simpson on why Chariot again opted to share the petition amid numerous tweets on the unrelated shutdown as well as ignore tweeted questions asking if the shutdown and SFMTA action were related were not responded to at publication time. Nor were my questions on why Chariot doesn't check drivers for valid licenses! I'll update with her response when it arrives.)

In any case, the service is up and running as of this afternoon. According to a Chariot spokesperson who contacted SFist, the below email was sent to passengers in San Francisco this morning, and the company "will resume the afternoon commute service as regularly scheduled."

We're happy to share that effective Monday afternoon, service will be back on and running as regularly scheduled. We've resolved the situation and do not expect any future interruptions. Thank you so much for your patience, and for all your support during this time.

From our brand new and monthly-serviced vehicles, to our employee drivers who undergo extensive training, we take our commitment to safety very seriously and know you trust us daily with your commute. We passed all inspections on Friday as expected and continue to be in compliance with all regulations.

Thanks again for being a loyal Chariot rider and helping us become the best way to commute in SF. See you on the road this afternoon!

Ali Vahabzadeh
CEO, Chariot

Previously: Private Shuttle Service Chariot Temporarily Shuts Down

The California Department of Motor Vehicles announced new regulations that could see self-driving cars take the road as soon as next June, but critics of the regulations worry that the safety requirements still aren't quite all there.

Road Show explains that the new regulations, which you can read in full here, center around autonomous car testing, requiring car manufacturers to provide the DMV with proof that they've already tested their self-driving technology in closed, controlled conditions. On top of that, they have to show that the cars know how to react to certain unexpected conditions.

When it comes to verifying safety, though, that responsibility is left to the federal government, as companies have to prove that their cars still meet the same federal safety guidelines that are required of any automobile. That's a major problem, according to Consumer Watchdog's John Simpson, who told the L.A. Times that there actually aren't any federal guidelines regarding autonomous vehicle safety. In a statement, he wrote, "The new California DMV proposal wrongly relies on the federal government, when there are absolutely no Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards applying specifically to autonomous vehicle technology. Under the Trump administration approach, automakers can glance at the [federal] policy and say, ‘That’s nice,’ and then do whatever they want as they use our roads as private laboratories and threaten highway safety."

That said, the San Francisco Business Times reports that there are already 42 companies testing autonomous vehicles in other states, such as Arizona and Florida. According to them, those companies include "big auto makers like Ford (NYSE: F), General Motors (NYSE: GM) and Toyota, as well as tech companies including Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Tesla (TSLA) and Intel (INTC)."

Earlier this month, Google's autonomous car branch Waymo made some big promises as they said that they have plans to introduce self-driving cars without drivers behind the wheel as early as this fall. Back in May, they teamed up with Lyft, in an attempt to get a leg up on other rival ride-share companies also testing autonomous cars (i.e. Uber).

Previously, one Uber self-driving test vehicle in Arizona made headlines when it flipped over after another car collided into it — and that one did have a driver at the wheel. As well, a Cornell University Library report said that self-driving cars are easy to fool with stickers, spray paint, and other simple measures.

If the state of California were to approve these regulations, it may very well place California back ahead of other states in the autonomous car-testing race. As of right now though, the regulations are open for public comment for the next 15 days, and if approved, could herald that major shift that car companies are looking for.

Related: Waymo Very Close To Launching Self-Driving Cars Without Humans Behind Wheel

The incident sounds relatively minor, but we have reports today, via mandatory DMV reporting, of a collision between a self-driving car and a bicyclist on the streets of San Francisco in May which resulted in the bicyclist suffering minor injuries.

As KRON 4 reports, the incident happened on May 25 at 5:30 p.m. at the intersection of 11th and Mission.

The car was an autonomous 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV with one operator/passenger inside, and it was making a left turn from the northbound lanes of 11th Street onto Mission. Per CBS 5, "When a vehicle in the inner turn lane began to cut in front of the Bolt, it braked, causing a bicyclist who had been crossing closely behind to ride into the rear of the vehicle."

The Bolt was reportedly minorly dinged up, and the bicycle was undamaged, according to the DMV report. The bicyclist suffered a scraped knee and said s/he may seek medical attention, but no ambulance was called to the scene.

This wasn't one of Waymo's or Uber's self-driving cars, because we know they've been testing other car models. KRON 4 notes that General Motors' self-driving car project uses Chevy Bolt EVs, and that the cars have been involved in the three other minor collisions this year, including one that resulted in a minor injury.

So far, the California DMV requires all self-driving cars to have human operators inside, in case of emergencies. Earlier this year, though, likely under pressure from companies like Google/Waymo — who are developing cars that don't even have breaks or steering wheels inside — the DMV began suggesting that they would rewrite the rules to allow autonomous vehicles to eventually operate without drivers.

Related: Newly Proposed CA DMV Rules Would Let Self-Driving Cars Hit The Roads Without Humans

The California DMV stands to further ease its regulations on autonomous vehicles at the urging of automakers, Reuters reports following a heated public hearing in Sacramento Tuesday. Representatives from the Association for Global Automakers, a trade group representing car makers pushing for autonomous vehicles and their deregulation, lobbied for a number of changes to self-driving car testing laws in the state, pushing the DMV to leave as much oversight as possible to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

There are currently 21 autonomous car companies operating in the state. As they stand, CA regulations require autonomous-driving test vehicles to have conventional controls like pedals and a steering wheel as well as a backup driver on hand. But as of last month the DMV proposed revising those rules, dropping such requirements — one of the points of contention at yesterday's meeting.

According to the DMV's notice of proposed regulatory action, that's because times have changed. "Since the adoption of the current testing regulations, the capabilities of autonomous technology has proceeded to the point where manufacturers have developed systems that are capable of operating without the presence of a driver inside the vehicle," the DMV writes, seeming to lend support to the Association for Global Automakers. "The department is amending article 3.7 to include the testing of vehicles that do not require the presence of a driver inside the vehicle," says the agency's notice.

But safety and consumer advocates are pushing back on the claims of the Association for Global Automakers. "We do not trust the auto manufacturers or the tech industry to protect the public in the absence of federal motors vehicle safety standards," Rosemary Shahan, president of the watchdog group Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety, reportedly said at yesterday's meeting. While the proposed rule changes would go into effect by year's end, don't throw away that driver's license just yet. This fight isn't out of road yet.

Related: Apple Gets Permit To Test A Self-Driving Car