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California Orders Uber to Halt Driverless Car Tests

California’s Dept. of Motor Vehicles has sent Uber Technologies Inc. a cease-and-desist letter for testing autonomous cars in San Francisco without a permit.
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California’s Dept. of Motor Vehicles has sent Uber Technologies Inc. a cease-and-desist letter for testing autonomous cars in San Francisco without a permit.

Uber said on Wednesday it was launching demonstration rides in its fleet of 11 robotic Volvo XC90 crossover vehicles to Bay Area customers. The cars are equipped to drive themselves, but Uber says each one will have an engineer-driver and assistant in the front seats to take control if necessary.

The San Francisco-based company has been testing similarly equipped Volvos in Pittsburgh since October. But the California DMV says it will take legal action if Uber fails to halt the San Francisco demonstration until it is granted a test permit. Nearly two dozen companies have obtained such licenses to date.

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