San Francisco drives tech; will it drive away robot taxis?

FILE PHOTO: A Cruise self-driving car, which is owned by General Motors Corp, is seen outside the company?s headquarters in San Francisco where it does most of its testing, in California, U.S., September 26, 2018. REUTERS/Heather Somerville/File Photo

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - San Francisco may be the symbolic capital of the tech industry, and the hub of next-generation services like artificial intelligence, but when it comes to self-driving cars, city officials are clear: not so fast.

The question comes to a head later this week, when a state agency decides whether to allow robot car providers Alphabet Inc’s Waymo and General Motors’ Cruise to expand their for-pay, no-safety-driver services to all of San Francisco, day and night.