Autonomous cars are headed to the streets of Boston.

Before the end of this year, nuTonomy’s all-electric Renault Zoes will take the roads of South Boston, thanks to the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Massachusetts-based nuTonomy, the city of Boston and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.

According to nuTonomy, the tests will take place at the Raymond L. Flynn Marine Park in the Seaport section of Boston. The tests will help the company and its cars collect information specific to Boston roads, such as local signage and road markings.

The tests will also provide a better understanding of certain habits of motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians within that urban driving environment.

“Boston is ready to lead the charge on self-driving vehicles, and I am committed to ensuring autonomous vehicles will benefit Boston's residents,” said Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh via Tech Republic.

In a company press release, nuTonomy CEO and co-founder Karl Iagnemma added, “Boston and Massachusetts are leaders in rethinking the future of transportation, and we are grateful for their partnership and support of nuTonomy’s efforts to develop a fleet of self-driving cars to serve the public.”

For Iagnemma, testing the cars and their software in the same state that the company is based also provides a unique opportunity.

“Testing our self-driving cars so near to nuTonomy’s home is the next step towards our ultimate goal: deployment of a safe, efficient, fully autonomous mobility-on-demand transportation service.”

The cars will operate on their own, but they will have a research driver on board to make sure that everything goes smoothly.

This round of testing isn’t the first for nuTonomy, as the company launched a self-driving taxi pilot program in Singapore over the summer.

<< Back to the News