On December 23 (local time), Neuro, an autonomous vehicle development startup in the United States, announced that it has obtained permission to commercially operate autonomous vehicles on the road from the California Vehicle Administration. As a result, Neuron is able to collect tolls from customers and provide autonomous vehicle services as well as test driving on the road.
Neuroro is a startup founded in 2016 by two engineers from the Google autonomous vehicle development team, and aims to provide delivery service through unmanned vehicles. In 2018, a demonstration experiment was conducted in Arizona in partnership with Kroger, an American supermarket chain.
In February 2020, Neuron announced that the driverless delivery vehicle, the R2, was approved by the U.S. Department of Transportation to exclude safety regulations. Therefore, the R2 did not have to install the side mirrors and clear glass required for existing cars, and in April, it obtained approval for an unmanned driving test in California.
Then, on December 23, it finally got a license from the California Vehicles Authority. This permit allows commercial use of autonomous driving technology in addition to manufacturing line testing programs, unlike test permits that companies can obtain to verify technology on the road.
Under the approval, Neuron will be able to deploy autonomous vehicles in Santa Clara County, California and parts of San Mateo County. The maximum speed that can be driven is 40 km/h, and when the weather is good, the speed limit is limited to 56 km/h or less. Neuro will soon deploy a custom-designed R2 following the Prius-based vehicle in fully autonomous mode.
California Vehicle Service Commissioner Steve Gordon said automotive public safety was a top priority for the Vehicle Administration and that such permits could not be issued lightly, but that Neuro was able to obtain permits to test unmanned delivery vehicles on California roads, meeting the requirements of the Vehicle Authority. Emphasized the point.
Like the California Department of Motor Vehicles, Neuro said it is focused on the safety of autonomous vehicles, and that the R2 is designed for safety.
Meanwhile, Neuro has also announced the acquisition of Ike, an autonomous truck development startup. Ike said that there are many things in common with Neuro, and that while sharing values and supplementing expertise, technologies with the same DNA can be developed. Related information can be found here .