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Autonomous vehicle startup Nuro was given the green light to start charging a fee and receiving compensation for a driverless delivery service in California, following regulatory approval from the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles on Wednesday.
The shift comes after the California Public Service Commission (CPUC) approved two new programs in November that allow autonomous vehicle operators to launch their own robot axles in the state.
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California’s first autonomous vehicle deployment license allows Nuro to operate with new and existing retail partners in designated parts of Santa Clara and San Mateo counties in the bay area, including the cities of Atherton, East Palo Alto, Los Altos Hills, Los Altos, Menlo Park, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Sunnyvale and Woodside.
“We will soon announce our first deployment in California with an established partner,” said David Estrada, legal and policy director at Nuro, in a blog. “The service will begin with our fleet of [Toyota] Prius vehicles in fully autonomous mode, followed by our customized R2 electric vehicles.
Nuro’s R2 vehicles, which were designed exclusively to carry packages, have a maximum speed of 25 miles per hour and are approved to operate only in good weather conditions on streets with a speed limit of no more than 35 mph. The vehicles were previously used to provide contactless deliveries to coronavirus patients and staff at health care facilities in San Mateo and Sacramento, and for autonomous food delivery to local food banks.
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The announcement came in the middle of a landmark year for Nuro, which announced separately on Wednesday that it would acquire the autonomous truck startup Ike Robotics.
Nuro became the first company to obtain an exemption from the Department of Transportation for autonomous vehicles in February. The company received a driverless test license from California in April, after operating on public roads in the state with a safety driver since 2017. In October, the company announced that its R2 vehicles could operate without drivers, occupants or chase cars in California, Texas and Arizona.
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“Issuing the first deployment license is a significant milestone in the evolution of autonomous vehicles in California,” said DMV state director Steve Gordon. “We will continue to keep the safety of the automobile public in mind as this technology develops.”
In addition to meeting federal motor vehicle safety standards or having an exemption from the National Road Traffic Safety Administration, applicants for authorization to deploy autonomous vehicles must show how their vehicles are able to avoid hazards and create a plan for how vehicles will interact with police and other emergency personnel.