nuTonomy, the software company which builds technology for autonomous vehicles have been given the go-ahead by Boston to perform tests on public roads. It isn’t the first time that nuTonomy vehicles will be on the road in Boston because the company has partnered up with both Lyft and Grab to test their vehicles.
Initially, both nuTonomy and Lyft started testing in areas such as the Seaport District in Boston where it was allowed but now the limits have been removed and the tech company can move testing in the city. Moving to the key crunch, which is the city, it is important for the technology company to gather real-world data, which serves to improve the software and machine learning models.
The company is required to submit quarterly reports of all of their tests and to continue reporting to the relevant authorities. Workings like this are key to ensure that public authorities know what to do in case of any emergencies as well as receive data for city planning and managing key departments.
“Continuing to test autonomous vehicles in a careful and methodical manner represents another step forward in helping us to achieve the vision for improved mobility that was established by residents during the Go Boston 2030 Transportation Plan public process,” said Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh in a statement. “If deployed thoughtfully, shared fleets of autonomous vehicles could offer the City of Boston the potential to improve safety on our streets, provide equitable connections to the MBTA, and offer a new source of mobility to all Boston residents.”
