It seems Uber's Self-driving program will submit to the California Department of Motor Vehicles' request to apply for a permit to continue testing its self-driving Volvo XC90 SUVs in the Golden State.
After launching a pilot program in San-Francisco last year, Uber was forced to abort the process of testing their self-driving vehicles when the California Dmv revealed that the company had not applied for a permit. Three months later the autonomous driving testing program will soon be back on the state's roads after Uber Technologies Inc. committed to taking the legal route.
Permit required
As per state regulations, a company that seeks to test their autonomous vehicles within California must apply for a permit. Uber's main competitors in the field have already obtained permits from the DMV. These include Google, Tesla, and Ford. Uber announced on Thursday that it will submit to the DMV's regulations and apply for the permit.
Once Uber's Self-driving program has obtained the legal permission to relaunch its' testing on the streets of San-Francisco, where the program was abruptly halted in last year. Two of the company's Volvos have already been spotted on San-Francisco roads, but Uber insists it has acquired temporary permits from the DMV to operate these vehicles.
At the moment they are monitored by an engineer in order to study the vehicle's performance and behaviors, but once the official permit comes into effect, the cars will go into autonomous mode.
Uber's defied rules
Uber Technologies Inc. openly defied California's state rules when it began testing for the vehicles without a permit.
The explanation from the company boiled down to a matter of law, which executives clearly misinterpreted when they assumed the program didn't fall under the requirements of the DMV permit.
A specific definition in the DMV's regulations stipulates that an autonomous vehicle does not require physical control or monitoring, and because that was not the case with Uber's cars, they assumed the rule would not apply to them.
Following the disagreement in December, Uber decided to move the entire operation to the state of Arizona, which does not implement the same rules as California. Arizona Governor, Doug Ducey, was happy to have the prestigious company on state roads, but it seems Uber now wants to return to California.
What next?
DMV spokeswoman Jessica Gonzalez has said that the department had positive discussions with Uber and will assist the company during the application process. It will take roughly 72 for the permit to kick in once Uber's Self-driving program has submitted the application.
