Sacramento – The California Department of Motor Vehicles on Wednesday January 27
th issued a permit to Baidu USA LLC, authorizing the company to test driverless vehicles on public roads in Sunnyvale.
While Baidu has had state authority to test autonomous vehicles with safety drivers since 2016, the new permit allows the company to test three autonomous vehicles without a driver behind the wheel on specified streets within Sunnyvale, located in Santa Clara County. The vehicles are designed to operate on roads with posted speed limits not exceeding 45 miles per hour. Tests may be conducted during all times of the day and night, but will not occur during heavy fog or heavy rain.