Nuro becomes the first company to introduce driverless cars in California: Report

Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and the U.S. National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA) approved the first and only federal government license for autonomous vehicles from California robotic taxi startup Nuro. At the same time, Nuro is also the first company to test fully driverless cars on public roads in California under the permission of the U.S. Vehicles Administration (DMV), without drivers or passengers.

According to reports, Nuro has just received another first batch in California that can be delivered using self-driving cars. Nuro becomes the first driverless car company in California, not only without drivers but also without passengers

Nuro said in a press release on Wednesday that the company has been testing its vehicles in the state since 2017 and can now begin daily delivery of food, beverages, medicines, and other products.

“The issuance of the first deployment permit is an important milestone in the development of autonomous vehicles in California,” said Steve Gordon, Director of the California Department of Motor Vehicles. “With this With the development of technology, we will continue to keep the safety of the driving public in mind.”

Nuro operates a Toyota Prius and its own small car R2. This year, Nuro tested the fully driverless R2 on urban open roads in California, Texas, and Arizona. After the approval this time, Nuro will leap to the forefront in the industry competition and will sprint to commercialize the operation of unmanned vehicles.

GM’s autonomous driving subsidiaries Cruise, Waymo LLC, and Amazon’s Zoox have also been approved for testing in California, and they are all seeking to profit from this new technology.

The Vehicle Administration stated that Nuro must meet several safety standards in order to conduct daily commercial operations, such as demonstrating that its vehicles can avoid danger, and developing plans for how to communicate with police and other emergency response personnel. In February last year, the company received an operational exemption from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

California requires that Nuro deliveries can only be carried out in good weather conditions, the maximum speed of the vehicle is limited to 25 miles per hour and is limited to the use of certain roads. Nuro currently only operates in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Nuro completed the latest round of financing in November and has received a total of more than 1.5 billion US dollars in financing so far. Gao Rong Capital, NetEase founder Ding Lei and Zhen Fund are all early shareholders of Nuro.

(Source)