The city of Sacramento is planning to test driverless cars which have a remote control operator rather than a safety driver on board.
CBS Sacramento reports that the city is partnering with Phantom Auto, a Silicon Valley company, specialising in safety technology for autonomous cars.
It says the pilot program will roll onto city streets in August, first mapping out wireless networks that are used to power the self-driving cars then the testing will span two sections of Sacramento.
Mayor Darrel Steinberg is quoted as saying, “This is our future and we’re going to grab it.”
Phantom Auto co-founder Elliot Katz added, “We can keep a human in the loop so that that human can safely drive through the situation and do things like the autonomous vehicle can’t.”
The city, along with some other stakeholders including Sacramento State University and Regional Transit have put $100,000 toward the project.
