According to new data from the Ministry of Automobile, high -tech companies that are developing automatic driver’s technology are tapping test brakes on public roads in California.
On Friday, the agency reported that a total of 4.5 million automatic driver’s test miles were recorded in 2024 and a decrease of 50 % from the previous year. The number covers two types of permissions: an autonomous driving car with a human safety driver behind the wheel and an autonomous car that enables driverless testing.
According to DMV, which regulates autonomous vehicle tests in the state, this decrease is more noticeable under the driverless test category. According to the records, the driverless test fell 83 % to 552,895 miles last year from 3.26 million miles in 2023.
DMV has also released an annual release report. This specifically describes the cases where human drivers need to take over control, just for concerns about technical disabilities and safety. These reports have been discussed in the past, as companies use a variety of criteria, comparing the results and evaluating the proficiency of the technology of autonomous cars.
The new numbers reflect the industries with few players, Waymo, with the transition to a commercial robotaxi spellator, the cruise of cruise by the parent company GM, and the ultimate shutter.
Cruise and Wamo have historically reported the best test miles. For example, a cruise recorded 2.6 million miles until DMV paused in 2023 in October of that year. The company did not resume tests in California. Waymo has left the test to strengthen commercial duties in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
In the past three years, a new permit issued by DMV to test a vehicle with a human driver has significantly reduced. In 2022, four permissions were issued. The following year, two new permissions were given. DMV gave one new permission in 2024.
Today, 31 companies have a test permit with a safety driver. Of these, only 11 companies actually conducted public road tests in 2024. DMV. For example, Tesla did not record autonomy miles according to the report.
Six companies, including Autox, Nuro, Weride, Waymo, and ZOOX, have been approved in unmanned exams. Mercedes -Benz (there is an advanced driver astance system that enables hand -free and Ioff on some expressways), Nuro, and Waymo have permission to operate commercial management.
This is in contrast to the exaggerated days, exaggerated of autonomous driving cars, and have permission to test the so -called “driven” autonomous vehicles. Ta. The integrated period that passed the early industry in 2019.
Today, few companies do not want to inject millions of people in the development of autonomous driving technology. There are some recent outlooks. Wayve raised $ 1 billion in May, and Waymo raised $ 5.6 billion in November.
As a result, a short list of active participants in front of Waymo was born from the viewpoint of testing and commercial miles. This result is an integrated industry without commercial competition.