Armed with a new permit from Nevada’s Automobile Division, Tesla is preparing to begin testing its autonomous vehicle technology on public roads in the state. The test permit initially pointed out by Tessline Fluencer Sawyer Merritt comes two months after CEO Elon Musk outlined the company’s plans to incorporate autonomous vehicle ambitions into several new markets beyond Austin.
“We hope to see what our competitors are doing, and we will be significantly increasing our service areas in two weeks, if possible. We have started permits in the Bay Area, Nevada, Arizona, Florida and many other locations.” “As we get approval and prove it safe, we plan to launch autonomous passenger compartments in most parts of the country. I think we will probably have autonomous passenger compartments in half of the US population by the end of the year. At least our goal will be subject to regulatory approval.”
Tesla began riding a driverless model Y SUV in Austin earlier this summer. The Robotaxi service, which includes Tesla employees sitting in the passenger seat, began in South Austin. Since then, it has grown to cover more cities.
Companies who want to enter Nevada for Tesla or test autonomous vehicle technology on public roads are easier than California. Tesla and others must be filled out in the Test Registry Permission Form. This will be reviewed and processed by the state DMV. The regulator will issue a certificate of compliance for testing, along with a set of red license plates for each vehicle listed in the packet. Tesla received the certificate for each merit.
Representatives from the Nevada DMV confirmed that Tesla submitted its test registry certification on September 3rd, and were processed by the Office of Business Licensing (OBL) team on Wednesday. DMV spokesman Haley Foster explained that this means that Tesla is now cleared to test self-driving cars in the state, but it is not permitted to deploy these vehicles as deployed services to regular operations. “Tesla needs to complete self-certification of the operational process so that it can be deployed on the entire program, namely Robotaxi,” she wrote in an email.
To follow, businesses testing AVS on public roads must provide evidence that they maintain $5 million in insurance coverage in accordance with agency rules. If the vehicle is on the street, businesses must report the car accident to the DMV within 10 days.
Nevada has a self-driving vehicle-friendly regulatory environment, making it a hotbed for activity in the sector. Motional and Lyft have been tested on public roads in Las Vegas for many years, and Nuro has established a closed test track in the state.
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However, the synonym for Las Vegas is custom made Robotaxi, like Zoox and its cube. Earlier this week, Zoox announced that it had made its Robotaxi services available to the public, but these vehicles will be free until you receive regulatory approval to charge you.
If Tesla wants to operate its commercial Robotaxi business, the company will need to take additional measures, such as obtaining approval from the Nevada Transportation Agency to operate as an autonomous vehicle networking company.
This article has been updated to include comments from the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles.
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