Nuro is the first driverless delivery company in California

“The issuance of the first deployment license is a significant milestone in the evolution of autonomous vehicles in California,” said DMV director Steve Gordon in a statement. “We will continue to keep the safety of the automobile public in mind as this technology develops.”

In a blog post, Nuro Legal and Policy Director David Estrada said, “We have thoroughly tested our autonomous driving technology and have built a history of safe operations over the past four years.”

Nuro said it will announce a delivery partner soon and plans to deploy its fleet of modified Toyota Prius vehicles “in fully autonomous mode” in two counties south of the Bay Area, followed by the launch of its customized R2 electric vehicles.

The R2 is a small box-shaped vehicle that can only go at 40 km / h, without an internal steering wheel and only space for packages. It will only be allowed to operate on certain streets and in good weather.

Nuro has been authorized to test autonomous vehicles with an internal security driver since 2017, the DMV said, and in April it was approved for fully driverless testing.

“Driverless delivery will have a major impact for Californians in the years to come,” said Estrada on the blog. “A parent in Mountain View will be able to get the week’s groceries delivered without putting the family in the car. A grandmother in East Palo Alto will have access to affordable daily home delivery. And a young woman in San Jose will have the opportunity to start a new career overseeing the operation of a driverless vehicle fleet that will deliver on those promises. ”

Nuro was founded in 2016 by former Google Waymo engineers. He raised $ 1.5 billion in financing, according to Crunchbase, including $ 940 million from SoftBank 9984,
-1.65%
Vision Fund.