The current circumstances, in which most people are stuck in their homes, those people all need groceries, and very few cars and pedestrians are out and about, would seem to be the ideal time for a test of a self-driving car that's focused on grocery and other food deliveries. And while the testing won't begin immediately, one California company has taken a big step towards

Nuro, a self-driving car company founded in 2016 by two engineers-Dave Ferguson and Jiajun Zhu-who had previously worked for Google's Waymo car project, has been granted a permit by California's Department of Motor Vehicles to test its self-driving vehicle on public roads.

The permit is the second of its kind in California-Waymo's was the first — but Nuro's permit is the first-ever for a vehicle that is both driverless and passengerless. Nuro had earlier tested its vehicles with safety drivers on board.

The R2, Nuro's product, is a small and rounded vehicle in which side doors open to hold grocery and other items. The vehicle, according to Nuro's specs, takes up less road space than a typical car, features a "pedestrian-protecting front end," and its speed tops out at 25 miles per hour.

“The safety of the motoring public is the DMV’s top priority, and we do not give out these permits lightly,” DMV Director Steve Gordon said in the press release. “Nuro has met the DMV’s requirements to receive this permit to test their driverless delivery vehicles on California’s public roads.”

The DMV has approved the R2 in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, with more to come in Silicon Valley and eventually the greater Bay Area. The initial jurisdictions for the tests are Atherton, East Palo Alto, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Menlo Park, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, and Woodside as the areas for the initial tests.

"Our plan is to begin service by making free deliveries to select customers in Mountain View and the surrounding area," the company's David Estrada wrote in a blog post. "This will allow us to launch a formal delivery service in partnership with local brands and retailers." The company will next apply for a statewide commercial deployment permit.

Self-driving car tech has been seen as a "technology for the future" for the last several years, with Google, Uber and multiple startups participating in the space. In 2018, a 49-year-old woman in Arizona was struck by a self-driving Uber car, although a safety driver was present in the vehicle at the time. That incident led to some areas pausing self-driving car testing.

Stephen Silver, a technology writer for The National Interest, is a journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. 

Image: Nuro.