After Pittsburgh, self-driving cars are heading to New England

The city of Boston said Wednesday that it plans to start testing a small fleet of autonomous vehicles within a year in a pilot project that could turn the streets of Beantown into a playground for engineers and policymakers. Along with the testing of robotic cars, the program will focus on designing policies to support the "transformative" technology, said Mayor Marty Walsh. It's part of a study on the future of transportation backed by the city's transportation department, its Office of New Urban Mechanics and the World Economic Forum. City officials don't appear to have decided which company's self-driving cars they want to use yet. A statement from the mayor's office said Boston would be working with "mobility industry leaders," and Kris Carter, a co-chair of the New Urban Mechanics office, told the Boston Globe that the project would be open to "talking with anybody."