Nuro
California DMV permits Nuro to test its driverless supply robots on public roads. Credit: Nuro/ Medium.

California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) in the US has permitted Nuro to test its driverless supply robots on public roads.

Other than Waymo, Nuro is the only firm to obtain a permit to operate a driverless vehicle in the state.

Nuro received the permission to test two light-duty supply vehicles in nine cities of Bay Area. These autos can operate in Atherton, East Palo Alto, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Menlo Park, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, and Woodside.

The vehicles, which cannot exceed a speed limit of 25mph, are allowed to operate only in fair climate conditions on streets that have speed restrictions of no more than 35mph.

Nuro’s driverless grocery supply robots have already been tested in Arizona and Texas.

California DMV director Steve Gordon said: “The protection of the motoring public is the DMV’s prime precedence, and we don’t give out these permits frivolously.

“Nuro has met the DMV’s necessities to obtain this allow to check their driverless supply autos on California’s public roads.”

Nuro chief counsel David Estrada said: “Our first plan is to make free deliveries to pick out clients in Mountain View and the encompassing space. It will permit us to launch a proper supply service in partnership with native manufacturers and retailers.”

California has currently permitted 65 companies to test their autonomous vehicles, but with security drivers.

Nuro recently debuted its R2 prototype lightweight electric car. This prototype has been built to be fully driverless.

The firm has also been testing its retrofitted Lexus SUVs with safety drivers in the Bay Space. However, the testing has been halted in the wake of the coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic. Nuro plans to relaunch testing once conditions become feasible.