AV Permit Holders Report Close to 2 Million Test Miles in California

Contact:  Office of Public Affairs
2415 First Avenue
Sacramento, CA 95818
(916) 657–6437 | dmvpublicaffairs@dmv.ca.gov

PARA DIFUSIÓN INMEDIATA
February 09, 2021

Sacramento – Companies with a permit to test autonomous vehicles in California with a safety driver reported their technologies drove nearly 2 million miles during the most recent reporting period, according to disengagement reports recently submitted to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

Los 63 annual reports submitted to the DMV summarize the disengagements reported during testing and reveal test vehicles traveled approximately 1.99 million miles in autonomous mode on California’s public roads during the reporting period – a decrease of about 800,000 miles from the previous reporting cycle.

Los reportes incluyen el número total de desacoplamientos, las circunstancias o condiciones de prueba, la ubicación y el total de kilómetros recorridos en modo autónomo en la vía pública por cada titular de la autorización. Las desconexiones pueden ocurrir cuando se detecta una falla en la tecnología o cuando el conductor de seguridad necesita tomar el control inmediato del vehículo. Los reportes brindan información sobre las actividades de prueba de una empresa en California, pero no pretenden comparar una empresa con otra ni llegar a conclusiones generales sobre las capacidades tecnológicas.

Thirty-three permit holders reported they did not test autonomous vehicles on California public roads during the most recent reporting period. The DMV suspended one company’s testing permit for failing to file the annual report.

Under California’s regulations, companies are not required to report testing on private roads/test tracks, testing that occurs out of state, testing below SAE Level 3 design or testing done in simulation. The regulations require submitting an annual report to the DMV every January 1. The first report a company provides covers the period from when the permit was issued to November 30 of the following year. Subsequent reports provide 12-month details from December 1 to November 30 of each year.

Actualmente, 55 companies have valid permits to test autonomous vehicles with a safety driver and six have a permit for driverless testing. All active testing permit holders that received authorization prior to 2020 were required to submit a disengagement report by January 1, 2021. Companies that received a permit in 2020 – two for testing with a driver and four for driverless testing – will submit their first report by January 1, 2022.

###