Zoox gains approval to test autonomous vehicles without safety drivers in California

Amazon-owned Zoox today announced that it received a driverless testing permit from the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). With it, Zoox becomes the fourth company to hit that milestone after Waymo, Nuro, and AutoX. The new permit will enable Zoox to test "at least two" autonomous vehicles on streets without a driver behind the wheel within a designated part of Foster City. The vehicles are approved to operate in fair weather conditions, including light rain and fog, on streets with a speed limit of no more than 45 miles per hour. Zoox was founded in 2014 by Australian artist-designer Tim Kentley Klay and Jesse Levinson, son of Apple chair Arthur D. Levinson, who was developing self-driving technology at Stanford.