Cruise, which is emerging San Francisco’s hometown self-driving car company, just announced plans “to build one of the largest electric vehicle charging stations in North America” in a formerly industrial, now gentrifying area of the city known as Dogpatch.
This makes a lot of sense, given Cruise’s commitment to a 100% electric fleet, and its commitment to developing, testing, and launching its service in San Francisco.
There has long been some question as to whether robotaxis will journey far away from the city limits for charging and parking during off-hours. Initially, that may not make sense, since it would entail expanding the operational area of the vehicles. Placing the charging station in San Francisco is expensive from a real estate perspective, but potentially makes the technical challenge simpler, since Cruise already plans to offer service in the city.
The San Francisco Chronicle has more detail (gated, though).
David Silver 