For the first time, the U.S. government's highway safety agency has approved a company's request to deploy a self-driving vehicle that doesn't meet federal safety standards for human-driven cars and trucks.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration granted temporary approval for Silicon Valley robotics company Nuro to run a low-speed autonomous delivery vehicle, without side and rear-view mirrors and other safety provisions required of vehicles driven by humans. Also not on the safety feature list; windshield wipers, steering wheels or brake pedals.
The vehicles previously were subject to federal standards for low-speed vehicles that travel under 25 miles per hour. Those didn't need steering wheels or brake pedals and didn't have to have human backup drivers.
