If Uber doesn't like California's rules, it can test its driverless cars elsewhere

Uber is at it again. The company, famous (or notorious, depending on your point of view) for flouting regulations as it built its disruptive, multi-billion-dollar business, rolled out a fleet of autonomous cars in San Francisco this week despite an explicit warning from the Department of Motor Vehicles that testing on public roads was illegal without a permit. Never mind that 20 of Uber's competitors in the race to develop autonomous cars have followed the California DMV's rules and gotten testing permits. Never mind that new federal guidelines for the safe operation of autonomous vehicles anticipate that car companies will get a state's permission before testing driverless technology on its public roads. Never mind that Uber's executives were told by DMV officials before the launch that the company would need a permit to operate its autonomous vehicles.