Software company to begin testing self-driving cars in Boston

nuTonomy, a developer of software for self-driving cars, announced it will begin testing its fleet of self-driving cars on specific public streets in a designated area of Boston.

The company will begin testing its self-driving Renault Zoe electric vehicle before the end of the year in the Raymond L. Flynn Marine Park in the Seaport section of the city. nuTonomy outfits its vehicles with a software system, which has been integrated with high-performance sensing and computing components, to enable safe operation without a driver.

During the Boston road tests, nuTonomy’s software system will learn local signage and road markings while gaining a deeper understanding of pedestrian, cyclist, and driver behavior and interaction across a complex urban driving environment. An engineer from nuTonomy will ride in the vehicle during testing to observe system performance and assume control if needed. The company plans to work with government officials to expand the testing area to other parts of the city in the near future.

nuTonomy recently forged a partnership with Grab, Southeast Asia’s leading ride-hailing app, to support the expansion of nuTonomy’s on-going public trial of self-driving cars in Singapore, the first such public trial in the world. The trial is giving select Grab users a chance to experience the full end-to-end experience of e-hailing and riding in a nuTonomy self-driving vehicle in and around Singapore’s one-north business district.

The testing in Boston will enable nuTonomy to build on the knowledge it has gained from the public road tests and public trials it has been conducting in Singapore. The company plans to launch its self-driving mobility-on-demand service in Singapore in 2018.