California issued a permit to Uber that allows it to test self-driving vehicles on public roads, the state’s department of motor vehicles announced on Wednesday.
Uber joined 65 other companies including Apple, Tesla, Lyft and Waymo, that already had authorization to test autonomous vehicles in the state.
The approval sets the stage for Uber to begin testing autonomous vehicles in California for the first time since it paused its self-driving car operations in March 2018. The company stopped testing the technology following an accident in which one of its autonomous vehicles killed a woman on an Arizona street.
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California has been issuing permits to test autonomous vehicles on public roads with a driver on board since 2014 and approved the testing of self driving cars on public roads without human drivers in 2018.
An Uber spokeswoman said on Wednesday the company would start autonomous testing in San Francisco in the near future. It is not currently testing self-driving cars and will alert local and state authorities before doing so.