SAN FRANCISCO ― Uber's self-driving cars will continue to ply the streets of San Francisco despite growing threats of legal action by state officials if the company refuses to obtain proper permits. Uber plans to defy the California Department of Motor Vehicles demand that it seek autonomous vehicle permits, because company executive Anthony Levandowski said Friday that the cars are not truly driverless and therefore not subject to the regulations. "It's hard to understand why the DMV would seek to require self-driving Ubers to get permits when it accepts that Tesla's autopilot technology does not need them," Levandowski said on a conference call with reporters. "We asked for clarification as to specifically what is different about our tech from the DMV, but have not received it.' The state attorney general's office responded with its own threat against the tech giant on Friday, saying the office will intervene if Uber fails to obey the regulations.