In 2023, 1,603 AVs were registered as ready for testing, an increase of 430 cars or 37 percent compared to 2021, data from the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) shows.
Three Companies Dominate California
The DMV’s 2023 report found that 77 percent of all permits issued were to AVs from three companies: Cruise, Waymo and Zooxwhich registered 510, 438 and 284 vehicles respectively.
These names may not be widely known to the uninitiated, but their parent companies should be making themselves known. Cruise is supported by a traditional car manufacturer General Motors, Waymo and Zoox are subsidiaries of the respective companies Alphabet and Amazon.
They were left far behind
Other notable companies testing autonomous driving technologies in 2023 include: Mercedes with 79 vehicles and Apple with 67 road-ready AVs. Nuroa Californian start-up, was unveiled with 98 cars. Chinese pioneer AV AutoXwhich became the second company to receive permission to test self-driving cars in California in 2021, was expected to have 44 vehicles on California roads in 2023.
Unused permits
Transport service Lyft had 23 permits in 2021. However, it did not use these permits between December 2022 and November 2023. A small fleet of six cars Nvidia in 2021 also does not appear in the 2023 reports.
A total of 35 companies currently have permits to test robot taxis with human safety drivers.
Number of autonomous vehicles on California roads in 2021 and 2023 / statista.com
