- California has lifted its ban on heavy autonomous vehicles, and the first self-driving trucks have already hit the road.
- Two companies have received permits from the California DMV to test their autonomous vehicle technology on public state roads.
- For now, the rules allow public testing with a safety driver behind the steering wheel.
After plenty of driverless taxis have made their way onto its streets, California has officially opened the door to another category of self-driving vehicles, and the first companies are wasting no time in taking advantage of the new rules.
The California Department of Motor Vehicles has issued the first permits that allow companies to test autonomous trucks on public roads, and Aurora Innovation and Kodiak AI are the first to receive them. Both startups are developing self-driving technologies for big rigs, and Kodiak said it has already started testing in California with a handful of test trucks, mostly around its office in Mountain View.
Photo by: Kodiak AI
Earlier this year, the California DMV updated its rules regarding self-driving vehicle testing, lifting a ban on autonomous vehicles weighing more than 10,000 pounds. The regulator also set a path for companies to test and potentially deploy self-driving heavy vehicles, as reported by TechCrunch.
Aurora and Kodiak applied for testing permits this spring, after California approved the new rules on April 28. Both companies met the DMV’s criteria for testing, including safety, insurance, vehicle registration, and safety driver qualification.
All this being said, testing AVs over 10,000 lbs still requires a safety driver behind the steering wheel in California. The rules also ban companies from testing on roads where the speed limit is 25 miles per hour or less, unless the vehicles are on a “direct route” between destinations.
The updated rules allow Aurora and Kodiak to put their technology to the test in their own backyards. Both companies are based in California, but they haven’t been able to deploy trucks in their home state because the rules didn’t allow them. Instead, startups focused on Texas, where Aurora operates several on-highway routes, including between Fort Worth and El Paso, Fort Worth and Phoenix, and Laredo and Dallas.
Both startups develop self-driving hardware and software, which are then installed in production semi-trucks.
