Argo AI Is Testing Driverless Cars in These Cities

• Autonomous tech developer Argo AI is now testing Ford Escape Hybrid vehicles in Austin and Miami, with no safety driver behind the wheel.

• The step represents a significant milestone toward the commercial rollout of Level 4 autonomous tech on US streets.

• Waymo and Cruise have also recently started testing Level 4 vehicles on US roads, though in limited downtown areas and without paying customers.

Argo AI became the latest autonomous developer to begin conducting driverless tests in the US, kicking off trials in Austin and Miami. The company is one of several approaching the commercialization of Level 4 autonomy, with the launch of driverless tests in real world traffic being one of the most consequential milestones toward this goal. The vehicles being used in the two cities are Ford Escape Hybrids, while Argo has also been testing Volkswagen ID. Buzz vans in Europe, under somewhat different testing conditions.

As with Cruise and Waymo, both of which have also commenced tests of their own prototypes with no driver behind the wheel, Argo AI is only letting its employees be passengers at the moment, so the test vehicles are not accepting paying passengers.

It's worth noting that our robotaxi future is certainly inching forward, with a quick succession of small prototype fleets traveling on real roads in challenging urban traffic. Argo itself was founded not all that long ago, in 2016, so proceeding to test driverless prototypes on the road in about six years is a significant achievement for the autonomous tech developer.

"Argo is first to go driverless in two major American cities, safely operating amongst heavy traffic, pedestrians and bicyclists in the busiest of neighborhoods," said Bryan Salesky, founder and CEO of Argo AI. "From day one, we set out to tackle the hardest miles to drive—in multiple cities—because that's where the density of customer demand is, and where our autonomy platform is developing the intelligence required to scale it into a sustainable business."

As tempting as it may be to imagine driverless taxis being just a couple years away from being a common sight in every city, jurisdiction-specific regulations in the US are just one of the factors constraining the commercial roll-out of Level 4 robotaxis. The companies testing their respective driverless vehicles all had to obtain permits from individual states and cities, and are allowed to operate the vehicles under a long list of requirements.