Autonomous driving startup WeRide received a permit to test two passenger vehicles on California’s public roads without a safety driver in the front, California’s Department of Motor Vehicles said on Monday.
WeRide, backed by Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi, is also testing its driverless vehicle in China’s southern city of Guangzhou, where the company has its global headquarters.
Automakers and technology firms are investing billions in autonomous driving, aiming to take an early lead in what many consider the future of mobility.
Other companies that are allowed to test autonomous vehicles with no safety driving in the front in California, include Alphabet’s Waymo, General Motors’ majority-owned Cruise, and two Chinese companies, Baidu and Alibaba-backed AutoX.
