Nuro, which received approval from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to test driverless delivery vehicles on roadways, has been cleared by the California Department of Motor Vehicles to test two automated vehicles on the streets of Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, including portions of the cities of Atherton, East Palo Alto, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Menlo Park, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Sunnyvale and Woodside.

Nuro has had state authority to test autonomous vehicles on the road with safety drivers since 2017.

The AMA opposes the testing of driverless cars on public roadways, because it increases the risk to motorcyclists and other vulnerable road users.

The new permit allows the company to test two light-duty delivery vehicles without drivers behind the wheel. The vehicles have a maximum speed of 25 mph and are approved to operate only in fair weather conditions on streets with a speed limit of no more than 35 mph.

Under a 2012 state law, the DMV was required to adopt regulations covering the testing and public use of autonomous vehicles on state roadways.

Regulations to allow testing with a safety driver behind the wheel took effect on Sept. 16, 2014.

Rules to allow testing without a driver and deployment of autonomous vehicles took effect April 2, 2018.

Regulations allowing for light-duty autonomous delivery vehicles weighing less than 10,001 pounds were approved on Dec. 16, 2019.

Nuro is the second company to receive a driverless permit in the state. The other is Waymo LLC. Currently, 65 companies have an active permit to test autonomous vehicles with a safety driver.