California changes regulations to allow self-driving light trucks on the road

Recently, the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) proposed to amend a regulation that would allow self-driving "light" trucks to drive on the road. Specifically, for self-driving light trucks weighing less than 10,001 pounds (about 4.5 tons), regulators will approve their on-road testing, but the premise is that the test vehicles do not charge delivery fees.

The DMV said that companies still need to apply for a vehicle (public use) license before they can commercialize autonomous driving technology, but the new rules do not apply to autonomous vehicles weighing more than 10,001 pounds. For autonomous truck companies Nuro and Udelv, this new rule revision is a step towards legalization of their products.

From the date of publication of the new rules, there will be a 45-day public comment period (ending on May 27, 2019), during which the DMV will hold a public hearing in Sacramento, the capital of California, to collect relevant opinions. The goal is to complete the new rule-making process within one year.

Foreign media that reported the news believe that California is an ideal incubator for self-driving car startups. According to the DMV, more than 60 companies have obtained licenses to test more than 300 self-driving vehicles, including Waymo (Google's self-driving car company), which even obtained a license to test fully driverless vehicles on the road.

The market for driverless vehicles is expected to reach $65.3 billion by 2027, and unmanned delivery services will become a very lucrative part of this market. In fact, McKinsey predicts that by 2025, 85% of last-mile delivery work will be completed by autonomous transport equipment.

Nuro and Udelv have many competitors, including Marble, Starship Technologies, BoxBot, Dispatch, Robby Technologies, Ike, etc. Robomart recently announced plans to test driverless grocery vehicles (the truck is like a mobile supermarket); Ford is working with postal partners to provide Walmart online shopping delivery services in Miami-Dade County; last month, Amazon launched the autonomous delivery robot Scout.

There’s also TuSimple, a self-driving truck company founded three years ago with operations in Arizona, California and China. There’s also Einride, a Swedish driverless car company backed by venture capital. Meanwhile, Kodiak Robotics, a self-driving truck startup founded by venture capitalist Paz Eshel and former Uber and Otto engineer Don Burnette, recently raised $40 million. Embark is even more ambitious, integrating its own self-driving system with Peterbilt heavy-duty tractors and recently launching a pilot system for hauling goods with Amazon.