It has no driver, no passengers, no steering wheel and no windshield, but the Nuro self-driving vehicles just got the OK to travel on public roads.
The approval to produce and deploy up to 5,000 Nuro R2 vehicles on public roads came from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
The R2 is a highly automated, electric, low-speed vehicle designed to carry cargo, such as groceries or pizza. The top speed of the vehicle is 25 miles per hour.
This is the first automated driving system (ADS) vehicle exempted under the general exemption authority of the NHTSA.
“Since this is a low-speed self-driving delivery vehicle, certain features that the Department traditionally required , such as mirrors and a windshield for vehicles carrying drivers, no longer make sense,” U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao said in a statement.
Walmart already disclosed plans to use Nuro’s R2 in a pilot as an extension of its Grocery and Pickup and Delivery service in Houston.
Domino’s also previously announced plans to use the R2 for pizza deliveries and Kroger to delivery groceries.
Truly self-driving vehicles are finally getting on the road.
How many roads from commercial locations are 25MPH ? NONE. these will be a traffic
nightmare rolling up on one of these in a 45 MPH zone.
Dumbest idea of the 21st Century. Please tell me ANY Benefit of these things being on the road?? There is more people hired for back up on this than just hiring a human driver who can "do the speed limit"
Many of these likely will be more succesful in more closed-in tyes of communities, Mark.
yep, Like in Sun City, AZ. these "Zero" Gro-Carts can race the Golf carts.
Autonomous vehicles also being tested at retirement communities.