Jan. 20, 2017—The Department of Transportation (DOT) picked 10 U.S. sites to prove self-driving cars on Thursday, according to a report from Bloomberg.
The DOT picked two sites in California and one each in Michigan and seven other states as locations for testing the vehicles before they hit the road. The selections follow a nationwide competition among national testing centers that began in November.
Automakers will share the facilities and data to accelerate the arrival of autonomous cars, the regulator said. The race is on to put robot cars on the road, with Tesla Motors Inc., BMW AG, General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Volvo Cars each pledging production of fully autonomous cars within five years. Alphabet Inc. spun off its Google Self-Driving Car Project, renamed it Waymo, and unveiled a driverless Chrysler Pacifica minivan earlier this month.
“The designated proving grounds will collectively form a community of practice around safe testing and deployment,” outgoing U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement. “This group will openly share best practices for the safe conduct of testing."
