“Driving in Boston is not for the faint-hearted,” notes Boston Discovery Guide. For those considering the challenge, the guide offers as the first of 14 tips: “Don’t!”
nuTonomy is ignoring this advice, perhaps because, although its autonomous vehicles may have brains, they don’t have hearts, faint or otherwise. In any event, Zeninjor Enwemeka at WBUR reports that the MIT startup is the first company to receive Boston officials’ approval to expand self-driving test runs citywide.
The company had been running tests in an industrial park within the city limits and in Boston’s Seaport District.
Enwemeka quotes Mayor Marty Walsh as saying, “Continuing to test autonomous vehicles in a careful and methodical manner represents another step forward in helping us to achieve the vision for improved mobility that was established by residents during the Go Boston 2030 Transportation Plan public process.”
“The city also views driverless cars as a way to make roads safer and says nuTonomy has a strong safety record,” reports Enwemeka. “A human driver, as a rule, must be behind the wheel during testing.”
She further notes that other autonomous vehicle makers, including Optimus Ride, are conducting tests in Boston but can’t operate on all city roads.
