Aurora Innovation and Kodiak AI, two companies developing self-driving trucks, have received permits from the California Department of Motor Vehicles to test their autonomous vehicle technology on public roads. And Kodiak has already started.
Kodiak said it is starting with a handful of test trucks in California, primarily around its Mountain View office.
Both companies applied for testing permits this spring under updated rules approved by the California DMV, the agency that regulates autonomous vehicles in the state. Those rules, approved April 28, lifted a ban on driverless vehicles weighing over 10,000 pounds from testing on public roads and provided a regulatory path for companies to test, and eventually deploy, autonomous heavy-duty vehicles.
Kodiak and Aurora met the DMV’s permitting criteria, including safety, insurance, vehicle registration, safety driver qualification, and other requirements, according to the agency. The testing permits require a human safety operator to be behind the wheel and prohibit companies from operating on roads where the posted speed limit is 25 miles per hour or less, unless they are on a “direct route” between destinations.
